Handbag Theft Scam

ThinkingOfLinking

Amanda wrote: »

Always amazes me why some people post items purporting to be true and which has come from an urban myth website!

It always seems to be a 'friend' of theirs and ABSOLUTELY TRUE!!

Well Googled Twenty!

You don't seem to have read it correctly; Snopes.com is saying it's true. The Snopes website tells you if an urban myth is true or false.

£$&*"($£&(

Flickering_Ember wrote: »

You don't seem to have read it correctly; Snopes.com is saying it's true. The Snopes website tells you if an urban myth is true or false.

It's says it's true, possible once, but then becomes a widespread urban myth as if it's happening to everybody's friend of sister, friend of person at work, sister of friend of someone who cleans the windows of a neighbour of the milkman of a man who lives in the same village as a friend of my brothers plumber. It does appear the story has been around a long time. My question is do ladies toilets really have hooks on the outside of doors for handbags, and if they do what sort of idiot would use them?

ThinkingOfLinking

Grahawk, I agree with you. And I've been to Bluewater several times. No toilets there (or anywhere else I've ever seen) have hooks on the outside of the door and nobody with any common sense would use them if they did exist.

twentypenceoff

it would be virtually impossible to steal a handbag from the toilets at bluewater anyway, any time ive gone there ive stood in a queue at least seven deep (thats what its like in ladies toilets) and someone would have raised the alarm.

CHR15

grahawk wrote: »

My question is do ladies toilets really have hooks on the outside of doors for handbags, and if they do what sort of idiot would use them?

You answered your own question.

Maybe they don't have enough room inside the cubicle because they all go to the toilet in twos.

trisontana

That's the problem with Snopes. If something like the above happens just once (sometimes years ago) then it's flagged up as "true", even when subsequent reports of the same "scam" are just urban myths.

The same thing happened to the PDS parcel scam. This did actually happen back in 2005 (but without the instant £15 phone charge) but the same old story gets trotted out each Christmas. When people then go on to Snopes, they see the magic word "true" without reading the rest of the article.

This is why I prefer Hoax-Slayer which will say something like "Was true, but the scam was shut down in late 2005." right at the top of the article.

carolinosourus

This is hilarious... OP you need to just accept that there is very little likelihood of this actually having happened, do you believe everything that everyone tells you? Even if they themselves believe it to be true, you can always doubt them, trusting everyone implicitly is not always a good idea...

As for someone leaving their handbag on a hook on the outside of the door? Well then maybe it would teach them a lesson and they wouldn't be so stupid as to do it again!

trisontana

Just been trawling through the net and have found these "warnings" :

http://www.mothers35plus.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=12730

http://www.britishagents.com/fullStory.php?id=207

http://community.babycentre.co.uk/talk/a2034425/dear_god_what_is_the_world_coming_to

http://www.ellisfield.gov.uk/watch/hannah_s_manor.asp


http://www.policespecials.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t84692.html

As you can see, word-for-word on each story. Do you see the date on the last story? - December of last year. So I don't believe that this thing happened to the OP's friend just a few days ago.

xxlaurissaxx

The same sort of scam happened to a collegue of my boyfriend just before christmas. Except her handbag was in the changing room and they grabbed her bag when she went out of the cubicle to show her boyfriend her outfit and ask his advice. She got a phonecall the next day saying John Lewis, was told to come along and ask for Mr X, went along, told there wasnt a handbag there or anyone there by that name, got home and all her xmas presents (wrapped under her tree, ready to give out) and her tv etc were all gone. I can promise this was 100% true!

Now I give my bag to OH/sister etc when im in a cubicle or dont leave when Im trying it on and just shout on the person im with to come and look.

xx

trisontana

xxlaurissaxx wrote: »

The same sort of scam happened to a collegue of my boyfriend just before christmas. Except her handbag was in the changing room and they grabbed her bag when she went out of the cubicle to show her boyfriend her outfit and ask his advice. She got a phonecall the next day saying John Lewis, was told to come along and ask for Mr X, went along, told there wasnt a handbag there or anyone there by that name, got home and all her xmas presents (wrapped under her tree, ready to give out) and her tv etc were all gone. I can promise this was 100% true!

Now I give my bag to OH/sister etc when im in a cubicle or dont leave when Im trying it on and just shout on the person im with to come and look.

xx

Why does it always happen at John Lewis?

I still don't believe your story though. There are too many similarities to the toilet story.