WATCH: Robbers target woman in Springs grocery store

These are the words of Barbara Neuhoff (56), a Petersfield resident, who wishes to warn women and make them aware of the dangers in everyday situations.

Barbara was robbed of her cellphone last Wednesday while shopping at a local grocery store.

She explains that because it has happened to so many people she knows, she thought she was highly aware of these incidents and cautious enough when shopping on her own.

“You never expect something like this to happen to you, and especially in a crowded store where there are people around you,” she says.

Barbara demonstrated how she was browsing in an aisle when a man approached her with a trolley and pushed close to her before reaching over her to take an item on a shelf.

“I moved away a little to give him room and decided to go to the next aisle,” she says.

The man followed her and rudely demanded that she hand him an item behind her, blocking her trolley and pushing close to her.

“As I turned to reach for the cinnamon he asked for, my handbag apparently became exposed to him, I turned around and he grabbed the spice out of my hand and walked away,” says Barbara.

Watch the video of how Anna Gous, Barbara’s friend, got robbed in a supermarket in Springs.

Anna says they boxed her in without her even noticing.

“I thought at the time it was strange that they didn’t just use the passage and were pressing against me,” she says.

Here is the footage of exactly how Anna was robbed:

Barbara says that this is almost exactly how it happened to her and that she saw the footage before hand and couldn’t believe that, with the knowledge of this and knowing how it happened, she was still a target and didn’t suspect anything.

Barbara remembered later that the other entrance to the aisle was also blocked by someone with a trolley.

She adds that the thieves distract you by bumping into you as this focuses your attention on them and then the ‘team member’ comes from behind and takes whatever there is to take.

“There is no stereotype here where one can say you need to look out for someone like this, wearing something like that, no, they look like normal shoppers, well-dressed but their trolleys are almost completely empty,” says Barbara.

She adds that they abandon their trolley as soon as they have committed the crime and walk away.

“People need to be empowered by the knowledge that this can happen so easily and so quickly and that you are helpless to stop it if you are unaware,” she says.

Barbara adds that after her ordeal, whenever she sees an empty trolley standing around, she points at it and says, “That’s a crime scene”.

“We need to start looking out for our fellow shoppers and be vigilant at all times,” she says.