Yesterday evening, around 1800, a colleague had her (Prada) handbag slashed on the tram. She moved the bag before anything was stolen - but now has a nice 15cm cut in the bag

Keep your wits about you - and bag in front of you.

This time of The year is even worst. I was in a store yesterday in the kids section and I could see single men walking around. One followed me and checked the potential of what he could get but sadly for him I didn't have any bags and my son's stuff were in the basket under the stroller. My money and my phone on me.

My suggestion is to avoid any fancy bags and avoid them totally if possible. Keep the minimum cards and money on you.

On my way to work yesterday they were giving out warnings over the loud speaker in the tram about keeping bags etc close. Some mean sods about!

My advice and what I say to my wife all the time is zip or button up your handbag!

She always walks around with the handbag open. It's so easy for thieves to put in their hand and pull somthing out if the bag is open. I know thieves have become so good that they do it even if the handbag is closed, but why make it easier for them?

I'm sorry for getting a bit off-topic, but OMG who the hell would knife a Prada bag? Shred the LV bags to smithereens, but leave the Prada alone!

Thanks for the warning! Will keep my spider-sense on, while on the train!

Love the tag - sounds like a Sunday Sport headline...

may be the thieve is "brand" blind?

Sacrilege!! If you're going Christmas shopping and expect to be loaded down with bags and/or with children in tow, then the safest type of bag is a messenger - slung over one shoulder and hanging in the front.

Well said. I have one of those messengers that velcros and snaps. If anyone tries to open it, you hear it...and the weave of the strap makes it hard to "slice." The body is not slashable due to the lining. But even with this I know that someone who really wants my crap will get it, so my protection is to make it as complicated as possible in hopes that the person will move on to someone easy. So I have a hard to open bag, my wallet is in the bottom and zipped under a pile of stuff.

When I worked in Paris I always made sure I had a cheap purse even though I love my expensive bags. I saw too many chicks get robbed on the metro just for their hand bags. They would literally throw everything (even the wallet, unless the wallet was LV or something too) and run off with the bag.

I thought this was an advert for a handbag sale

do you does your colleague have insurance?

Yikes!

This time of year I have trouble with my purse strap sliding off the shoulder of my coat so I tend to just do it "man style", carrying only what will fit in my pockets. As my coat is longer than the height of my pockets, I feel pretty confident I'd notice if someone was reaching up under my coat to get at my pockets.

I advised her to check - and she will check with her husband tonight. I keep waiting for my gym bag to be stolen - you can imagine the horror as someone delves into the radioactive wet running gear

Some poor unfortunate soul nicked my dirty rugby kit from Nelson's in Bern some years ago .

Lost a damn good pair of Adidas Flankers.

Shocking that these things have started in Zurich also now...

Last year , we experienced such a theft in a bus with one of our co-passengers in a local crowded bus, in our trip to Pisa Tower, Rome... We breathed in a relaxed manner after that shock as we reaced Zurich....But alas!!

Its an alarm for people like me, who would often rush for the public transports with a pram and hardly gets the time to take care of the accessories after managing the kid.

oh god, the poor Prada...!!!

On a serious note, I hope your colleague is alright now. Whether you are carrying a normal or branded bag, its the time of year where thieves are out and about in full force preying on the stressed up Christmas shopper hoping to have a good Christmas themselves. Keep your wits about you everyone!

I guess the thief's logic is :"Prada bag! Might be more money in there versus the Longchamp-carrying teen!"

Single men don't have children in their lives???

Women don't slash and grab?

Wow talk about stereotypes.

Yesterday I was at HB in Zurich, and went to BurgerKing. I had a backpack, all zipped up.

BK was relatively empty, but when I was in line a guy came and he got suspiciously close to me. Soon after I thought it best to get my backpack in front of me, and guess what - two of the zippers were slightly open. Nothing was stolen, and I am pretty sure that the zippers were fully closed before (I'm very careful about those things).

While I was waiting for my order he went to order something on the cashier next to me. While I checked my back i kept looking at me through the corner of his eye...

It was the first time this ever happened, but what amazes me is the way he tried to rob me. Getting extremely close to me in a really empty place? Really?!?!

I had a bag of pet bottles that I was bringing back to the store stolen. There must be a collector's market.

I read single men is a euphemism for something that might come across as being racist, maybe? Blick & Co have been spreading a lot of stories about them and their criminal nature recently so I can imagine people being concerned when they see them in such situations.