10 reasons criminals find easy targets at shopping malls

With the easing of lockdown regulations and the festive season fast approaching, numbers are expected to increase significantly at shopping centres.

Charnel Hattingh, Head of Marketing and Communications for the Fidelity Services Group, warns, however, that such increased activity will also attract criminals who find easy pickings in busy environments.

Hattingh provides 10 reasons criminals find easy targets at shopping centres:

1. Many people in one area makes it easy for them to disappear into the crowd once they have stolen your handbag or shoplifted.

2. Women with children are often distracted. Turning away from your trolley with your handbag in it for even two seconds is time enough for a criminal to take advantage.

3. Criminals can blend in with other families. Women use children to steal cellphones, handbags and other items, especially in restaurants where they are ‘innocently’ waiting to be served. After the crime is committed, they simply walk off into the busy crowd and blend in.

4. There are many ATM machines. On a busy day nobody wants to hold other customers up if the machine is giving ‘trouble’. This is when a ‘Good Samaritan’ steps in and offers to help – actually helping themselves to your pin and bank card. Before you know it, thousands could be withdrawn from your account.

5. Parking areas are large, offering criminals a chance to sit in a car and identify their next target without coming across as suspicious. This could be a woman alone or with children, or an elderly person.

6. It is easy to sit in a car and remote jam cars. Always check your car is in fact locked before walking away.

7. Following someone going to deposit or withdraw large amounts of money at a bank at a mall is unlikely to be detected.

8. Shoppers are careless with their valuables – handbags hung over chairs at restaurants, cellphones on the table, and so on. A criminal will not hesitate to grab your belongings and be gone in a matter of seconds.

9. Most people do not notice what is going on around them. Always take note of your surroundings, especially when you walk back to your car. Check where the car guard or a security guard is and signal for help immediately if you are suddenly approached by a stranger.

10. People are used to being approached by beggars and hawkers. Criminals are masters of disguise and will use any means possible to get what they want. Do not speak to strangers, and if anyone is making you feel uncomfortable, go to a security guard and report them.