Victim urges Richmond community to beware of pickpocketers

A Richmond resident is urging people to be more vigilant after a petty thief bought £1,600-worth of lottery tickets with her cards. The resident, who goes by her last name Lin, was at Shi-Art Chinese Cuisine in Richmond Centre when her wallet was stolen earlier this week. Lin then paid a visit to the restaurant’s washroom, before making her way to Tim Horton’s next door to buy a snack for her son.

It was only then that she realized her wallet was missing and also spotted phone alerts from her bank, warning that someone was using her cards at the lottery centre in PriceSmart Foods on Ackroyd Road. “The waitress (at Shi-Art) told me that there’s a man following (me) and (they) saw (the man),” said Lin, who added that the waitress said she didn’t alert Lin because she didn’t know what the man’s intention was. Lin estimates a loss of around £2,800, including cash and amounts spent on her cards, but her main concern was her ID card.

“I still hope that somebody can pick up my ID from one of the garbage bins..,” she said. “I definitely don’t want some people using my ID and doing some serious crime.” She immediately called the police and contacted both Richmond Centre and PriceSmart Foods for assistance.

She was told that security footage would be available upon request from police. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Dennis Hwang confirmed to Richmond News that police have received a report of a purse stolen from a bathroom and that they are investigating.

According to Hwang, wallets and purses are “rarely recovered” in such circumstances, but thieves tend to keep the cash rather than ID cards or credit cards. Apart from lottery tickets and gift cards, RCMP has also seen thieves purchase Airbnb rentals, ride shares and rental vehicles with stolen funds. However, Lin does have reason to be concerned.

“With identification and personal documents, accounts, credit cards can be opened. Also information about one’s place of residence is at risk,” said Hwang. He added that while mail theft, online security vulnerability and theft from vehicles are some of the recent common trends in theft, police had also recently busted a fraudulent identity factory.

“A person’s identity is a very valuable commodity,” said Hwang.

For people in Lin’s situation, police recommend cancelling any cards immediately, be it credit, debit or IDs like driver’s licenses.

Since the incident, Lin has become more hesitant to dine out as she found it “frightening” that a thief could just go into a restaurant and target customers.