Keep an eye on your bag!

Dec 5 2008 by Alison Lowson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH police’s warning to watch out for pickpockets is a timely reminder in this festive season.

A couple of years ago I had my purse taken from my handbag when I stupidly left it under a restaurant table.

The rat pretended to have dropped something at my feet and he was out of the door and up the street before I twigged.

It was bad enough that I lost £50 in cash, plus a couple of photos of great sentimental value, but the thief also swiped my bank card!

Admittedly I wasn't liable for any withdrawals since I reported the theft straight away, but the hassle factor was enormous.

I foolishly assumed that since the card was reported stolen, some kind of alarm would be triggered every time it was used and the rotter apprehended. Wrong!

The thief was clever and only used it for amounts under £20 which apparently don't register on either the shop’s or the bank's system.

In just a few days, my light-fingered friend had run up over £900 in various pubs, off-licenses and record shops – a loss that the bank presumably passes onto its customers in some way, shape or form.

When you think how many bank cards are stolen each year, with no hope of recovery, it's no wonder banks are going belly up. In this day and age of sophisticated technology, you'd think they could come up with a system that's more of a match than some light-fingered waster?