Here’s how to prevent it from happening to you –

A double decker bus in London.


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Last week, we learned that professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama, his coach and caddie were robbed in London. They were on their way back from the Paris Olympics and headed to a tournament in Memphis.

According to Golf Digest Japan, “Matsuyama and his support staff encountered the incident in London, a stopover just before heading to the US after their fierce battle in France. The caddie and coach, who were forced to return to Japan temporarily, are rushing to have their passports reissued and their visas reissued, but the earliest they can travel to the US is just before the final tournament, the Tour Championship (East Lake GC, Georgia) in two weeks. Matsuyama said, “There’s a chance they’ll make it, but we have to go into it thinking it’s close to zero.”

At the time, not many details had been released so I was speculating that it happened in London’s Heathrow and showed a couple of videos from CCT cameras of previous robberies in London, including a group of women working together while walking down the street and carefully unzipping and grabbing the wallet of a traveler wearing a backpack. The other was of two little girls going into a restaurant and while one asked a question to a family dining, the other snuck behind and grabbed the mother’s purse. You can watch the videos on this page and remember it can happen anywhere and does.

We just learned that Hideki and his team decided to break up the trip and spend one night in London. According to Golf.com, they were at dinner downtown when they noticed something was missing. “We didn’t even know it happened. We were just having a friendly dinner, and Shota was the first one: ‘hey, where is my bag?’ Of course it was frustrating, but we really didn’t know it happened. It was just kind of all of a sudden.”

According to Matsuyama, the perpetrator, “just took it and ran,” and then the travel nightmare ensued. Fortunately for Hideki, he didn’t lose his passport but his coach and caddie did and they had to return to Japan to work on getting replacements.

Crimes like this are easy to commit and thieves love to target travelers for a number of reasons:

1. They usually have a lot of money or credit cards on them.
2. They are not familiar with the surroundings and aren’t always paying attention especially when trying to soak in the sights.
3. They are tired from a long flight or from traveling in general.

See this video embedded below, which demonstrates how easy it was for this thief to steal a bag from a London pub.

Thefts like this happen everywhere and to locals, too. Here’s a snippet and some tips from the Manhattan Beach (California) Police Department. They wrote: “On 7/5/24, a pick-pocket theft occurred in the 1200 block of Valley Drive.  The victim placed his backpack on a bar stool next to him.  A female suspect sat next to the victim and stole his credit cards and cash that was located in the backpack.  The victim later saw declined and fraudulent attempted charges on his credit cards.”

They also provided these additional crime prevention tips:

“The MBPD has seen an increase in fraudulent transactions as a result of wallets being stolen from pockets or purses.

Here are some tips to keep your belongings safe:

  • Keep purses and bags closed and secure at all times.
  • Carry bags in front of you or diagonally across your chest.
  • Don’t place your belongings out of sight, on the ground, or on the back of your chair when in public areas.
  • Be aware of your surroundings.
  • Invest in theft proof bags/purses.”

So, regardless of whether you’re on the road or at home, you really need to be aware of your purse, backpack and bags because crimes like this can happen anytime, anywhere and to anyone.

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