CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- We all do it: put or bag and our guard down. That's all the opening you need to become a target. A string of purse snatching at shopping centers near SouthPark and Concord Mills Malls is setting off the alarm for police.
"It literally takes seconds," said Officer Chris Kopp, crime prevention specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. "What we're seeing is five to then seconds is all it takes."
"That's what I first thought of, it could easily happen to me," said shopper Lisa Ellis, "I usually have my purse, and I usually have it half unzipped."
Officer Kopp says, "They're distracting women who have their purses sitting on like a shopping cart, and then when they're distracted, another individual is going in, grabbing the credit card out of the wallet and eventually using those credit cards."
The thieves are racking up hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of fraudulent charges long before shoppers notice the cards are missing.
Now, shoppers near SouthPark Mall say they're on high alert.
"Always have my bag on my shoulder, clutched between my body and my arm and always have it zipped," said Ellis.
Shopper Josclyn Reed said, "I do try to keep things not visible."
But sometimes easier said than done-- especially when kids are in tow.
"Being a mom, you can be a target because they see that you're distracted a lot," Reed said.
http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/crime/2016/02/17/cmpd-warns-purse-snatchings-local-malls/80522802/
