Woman loses $100,000 in bag snatch

[Brian-M]

Her life savings in her handbag sitting in her shopping trolley.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/01/2832777.htm

Victoria Police Inspector Simon Clements says the victim was from a war-torn country that had been hit by a bank collapse, and the cash was her life-savings.

"I guess she has just got some fear of banks as a result of that," he said.

"When the police asked her how much was in the handbag when she was reporting it, she collapsed and was taken to hospital."

I wonder if the thief had any idea she had so much money in there, or if he just got very, very lucky.

 

[shuize]

If she starves to death as a result, she should qualify for a Darwin Award.

 

[paiute]

Or

Her life savings in her handbag sitting in her shopping trolley.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/01/2832777.htm




I wonder if the thief had any idea she had so much money in there, or if he just got very, very lucky.

The bag may have been empty and the "victim" quite aware that many kind-hearted people would send money to help her out.

Who verified that there was any cash actually lost?

 

[I Ratant]

When Sweet Thang and I were coming back up the 110 Freeway after the Queen Mary tour, she got a call on her cellphone.... that informed her she'd won one million dollars!
Oh joy!
All the caller needed was a bank account number to deposit the money in.
ST hasn't an account.
The caller told her she didn't qualify!
D-rat!
So close to Easy Street.
I'd get her an account, but she'd give out the frikkin' number!

 

[Brian-M]

The bag may have been empty and the "victim" quite aware that many kind-hearted people would send money to help her out.

Who verified that there was any cash actually lost?

Good point, there's no way for us to know. I've looked up some more info on the subject, but details are hard to find. I did find these two quotes interesting...

Police have been told she was shopping at a supermarket on Deakin Ave when her bag was stolen between 2pm and 2.25pm yesterday.

It is believed the bag was taken out of her shopping trolley while she was in the supermarket or when she was loading her car in the car park.

Police are looking for a white 1995 dual-cab Toyota Hilux in connection with the theft, which had a number of chairs loaded in the back.

They are also trawling CCTV footage from the supermarket as part of their investigation.

So... they don't know exactly what time the bag was stolen, or even if it was stolen in the shops or the car park, and yet they somehow managed to identify a definite vehicle to look for?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vi...olley-in-mildura/story-e6frf7kx-1225835582647

 

[Ziggurat]

She lost her money where? What was she doing putting it up there in the first place? Oh, sorry, I misread the title.

 

[Region Rat]

If she had all $100,000 in $100 bills, 1000 bills is a pretty good stack of paper. How big was her handbag?

 

[WildCat]

Sounds like a scam to me.

 

[Region Rat]

If she had all $100,000 in $100 bills, 1000 bills is a pretty good stack of paper. How big was her handbag?

OK, because I just had to know....

The height of a stack of 1,000 one dollar bills measures 4.3 inches.

(http://www.ehd.org/science_technology_largenumbers.php)

Not as much as I thought.

And now you know too.

 

[kedo1981]

If I were a petty criminal scumbag (as opposed to just plain scumbag) I would think that I just ripped off the wrong person (drug king pin, Jamaican money launders, Russian counterfeiters) and be looking over my shoulder.

 

[lector]

Victoria Police Inspector Simon Clements says the victim was from a war-torn country that had been hit by a bank collapse, and the cash was her life-savings.

"I guess she has just got some fear of banks as a result of that," he said.

"When the police asked her how much was in the handbag when she was reporting it, she collapsed and was taken to hospital."

Distrust of banks is not uncommon in Polish communities very near to where I live. (And no, this is not a lead-up to a Polish joke.) It's a genuine cultural phenomenon.

Our real estate agent brokered deals with many Polish clients who bought their houses with shopping bags full of cash once they'd accumulated enough. Not that they ran around with their life's savings in a bag all the time; they kept the money at home while they were renters, likely in a home safe.

I take no position on whether this particular case represents a scam.

 

[Magenta]

The bag may have been empty and the "victim" quite aware that many kind-hearted people would send money to help her out.

Who verified that there was any cash actually lost?

Sounds like a scam to me.

Nope

Victoria Police have recovered most of the money taken in a bag snatch at Mildura, in north-west Victoria.

There was more than $100,000 was in a woman's handbag when it was taken outside a supermarket on Sunday afternoon.

Police say a 30-year-old man was arrested at a house in Mildura yesterday.

And a man and woman are being questioned after police searched a second house this morning.

Sergeant Paul Matheson says $99,400 of the stolen cash has been recovered, along with the bag and the victim's personal belongings.

Link

 

[Brian-M]

I notice that in the newest news articles the amount originally in the bag has risen to "up to $125,000".

The woman, who emigrated from Iraq nine years ago, had been shopping with her niece on Sunday when she loaded her car and drove away about 2pm.

Minutes later she realised she had left her brown leather handbag in the trolley she had used, but when she returned the bag was gone.

http://m.smh.com.au/victoria/police-recover-cash-after-125000-bag-snatch-20100302-pejm.html

That doesn't exactly sound like a bag-snatch to me anymore. More a case of "Oops, I left my life savings in a shopping trolley and, when I went back, it was gone."

 

[dtugg]

What a moron.

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

OK, because I just had to know....

The height of a stack of 1,000 one dollar bills measures 4.3 inches.

(http://www.ehd.org/science_technology_largenumbers.php)

Not as much as I thought.

And now you know too.

Assuming they're nice new smooth ones. If they're wrinkly, crumpled, or otherwise in average shape, I bet they take up a lot more. Of course, if the money isn't all in new hundreds, the math says this is a scam. 100,000 in mixed bills of 20 or lower, for example, the ones people commonly carry because they're easy to spend... It'd be impossible.

A

 

[Lolly]

The police got about $99,000 of her money back and arrested three people on various charges relating to having taken the money.

 

[paiute]

The police got about $99,000 of her money back and arrested three people on various charges relating to having taken the money.

Like they would say over at Fark: "Woman is robbed of $100,000. Police find the criminals and recover the $30,000, will return the $10,000 to her shortly."

 

[Lolly]

No, the thieves spent some of the money, the cops didn't nick it. Anyway, she's very lucky not to have lost the lot.

 

[ponderingturtle]

But has the cash been charged with being excessive amounts of cash to carry around?

 

[ZirconBlue]

OK. You don't trust banks. That I can sort of understand. That doesn't mean you have to carry your life savings around with you! And if you do, at least keep hold of the bag!