Beware of
Pickpockets!
(Mandurukot)
What's more disheartening news than this? A single Mom's hard-earned money that was for kids' schooling was stolen.
It was a beautiful sunny morning five days ago when this single Mom, (let's call her) Alice, went to queue at a money exchange corner at one of the largest US-franchised marts somewhere in Southern Luzon, full of locals and tourists. Nearby are a lot of private resorts or pools that can be rented out.
Exchange rate was low at the time, so Alice decided to exchange $400 only, not all of $700. After the transaction, she put the Philippine money and US dollars together into her front left pants pocket.
Then off she went for the book sale at the same mart, purchased 2 books and paid them using the money from her angry bird coin purse.
Later on, she touched her front left pants pocket but her hands felt nothing except for the slash right where the money was! Her heart dropped for disbelief that a few thousand Philippine pesos and $300 are gone in a flash!
Alice looked up teary eyed trying to recall the moments from the time she was queueing at the money exchange corner. Nonetheless, she can't think of anyone suspicious from that time until she discovered that her pants pocket was slashed. How could she not have known at all? Her pants pocket was slashed without scratching her skin. Oh what a master thief!
She turned to her right and saw the police station which was just right across the road. For a minute, reporting the incident seemed a smart idea but on the second thought, "What can police do to help? They wouldn't be able to help get the money back nor find the sneakthief. Hence there is no point".
The hard-earned money was stolen in an unbelievably, undetected and unfelt sneaky way.
Alice went home feeling defeated.
What would you have done?
