A pickpocket targeting charity shops that cannot afford CCTV could be on the loose in Surbiton.
A thief stole a purse from a lady’s handbag at Oxfam, Victoria Road, on May 21, following a similar incident at the shop a few weeks earlier.
Nicky Marsh, 33, manager at Surbiton Oxfam, said: “We have not really had any kind of pick-pocketing before, it is a recent thing.
“I have been thinking it seems like it has stepped up and I am really unhappy about it. It seems like we are being victimised.”
The incident on Monday happened at about 4pm. The suspect bumped into a woman who was browsing cards, Ms Marsh claimed, and when the woman then went to the till she discovered her purse had been taken.
Ms Marsh called police and was told there was not much they could do, she said, as there was no CCTV in the shop.
They offered to send a community support office to patrol the shop.
Investigations are ongoing.
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