I had stuff stolen from my locker at Lugano station: they duplicate the keys and take your stuff. The SBB does not care, as they suffer no damage. Never leave your valuables in a locker. My sons passport was posted back to us, two weeks later.

Hi guys,

This article
http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/news/sto...giere-28132054

reported on the current increase in theft on trains. Important:

• Watch your belongings at all times
• Don't entrust your belongings to people you don't know if they offer to "help" you e.g. lift your suitcase into the train
• Don't place your belongings on the seat closer to the aisle
• Think twice about unpacking your latest gadget on a train packed with people in the evening rush hour

I thought I had already posted somewhere how I almost got robbed in the train- I was on the Zurich-Geneva via Bern, and in between Fribourg and Geneva I fell asleep and woke up to some dude slamming down in the seat next to me.

What had happened is that he had tried to take my lunch bag (my purse was on me) doing the whole "I walk by really fast and pick up what is on the seat), the lady across the way yelled at him and he pretended to sit down and threw my bag across to the other seat. Because he "had to sit by me." Then his friend called him away to do more thievery and he was gone. Was groggy getting woken up like that but nothing got taken thanks to the other lady.

Of course when I went to the conductor to warn him thieves were on the train he couldn't speak French and when I got to Lausanne train station police just to give a heads up I got a lecture on how Tunisians are fundamentally genetically programmed to beat women and steal.

I have seen these guys on trains in the Romandie. They usually work in pairs, walk up and down carriages a lot, and make what they are doing quite obvious.

Basel presently has a problem with bike thefts. People cross the border (publicised as gangs) and steal. A neighbour had a bike worth several thousand stolen (mind you it was not locked up). It is, or was very easy for the theives to take bikes etc. Often, even now after many articles in the local news, I still see bikes not locked up.

Perhaps in the past there was less access to Switzerland for thieves crossing the border? Or maybe everybody was more law abiding in the past?

Had the same experience in the French Riviera at the beaches. People (usualy men) walking up and down the beach. One of the first things I was told by friends was N E V E R leave anything unattended or it will go in a flash.

In Basel I left a bag with wallet etc inside at the local school for half a day, in full view. Came back to retrieve it, nothing missing. Often in winter locals hang up hats, gloves etc dropped by the kids for them to find. In fact during winter it is next to impossible to walk through my Gemeinde without finding this stuff hanging up!

My umbrella was stolen in Manor..in a small village! I don't feel safe here anymore.

There have been reports in '20 mins' and 'Blick' about thieves on trains. One trick is to grab your bag, wallet, purse, just as the train is about to depart, then jump off the train, making it impossible to chase after them.
Never put your wallet etc in your back pocket, always carry bags at the front of your body, keep valuables inside clothing.

How things have changed, I remember when I visited hubby when he first worked here 13 years ago, we went into a cafe after he met me at the airport, and we left my suitcase just inside the doorway. As he told me.. 'It won't get stolen, this is Switzerland'

I was once robbed on the train.

A woman in the train vestibule was struggling trying to get her baby buggy off the train. I offered to help; as I was lifting the buggy (and somewhat distracted) someone from behind slashed my bag off my shoulder and ran off the train.

According to the police, there had been several similar incidents - it was thought that the woman and the thief were working together.

Sad, as it makes one think twice about helping when someone is struggling with a buggy, a shopping trolley or a suitcase.

woah!
I didn't know it!
I always let my laptops, phones, ipads on the train when I go to the toilet...

Last June I came down to visit my fiance (or was it November? I am horrible on time frames) and I was walking around Bern, all around it. Probably was my first mistake. Well I saw a bakery, and I was heading towards it (I love Nusegipfels) when a big Nigerian (probably) fellow came running bye trying to snatch my satchel (break the strap near as I can guess)

It is a World War 2 repurposed satchel, there's no way he was going to break the strap. The jolt stunned him, giving me the time and the leverage to closeline him to the ground for his trouble.

Not sure what he was thinking, but he didn't want any more to do with me, though I was ready and eager to stomp a mudhole in him.

But I am from Alabama, and that would be proper etiquette.

Uh-huh. Big, black guy in Switzerland, committing crimes. Almost certainly Nigerian. There are so many of them over here from Nigeria, after all, and they're ALL CRIMINALS, every single one of 'em!

Alabama. Some things never change.

Now that's silly. The upright citizens of Nigeria don't have the money to travel abroad.

'Big Nigerian'... You clearly don't get out of Alabama much..

Touch wood, been going to the Cote (d'Azur) for 15 years now, never had a problem. But last ten of those years has been with a kid or two in tow. I have fretted a bit about leaving valuables (watch, bit of cash - I rarely take much when going to the beach - + ipod/iphone). Well the nes iPad will satying out of the sun at home then, no beach time for it!

On a similar line..my wife left her bag on the train with cash 400 CHF and 200 USD along with her permit copy, passport, debit card etc...
A week after we got the bag posted back with a note that 10 CHF has been deducted from the cash for postal charges..A good samaritan collected the missing bag and dropped the same in Schaffhausen Police station (without opening the bag)...
We received all the valuables and cash untouched..Funny it is...there was also an apple and a orange that my wife was carrying on the day she lost her bag and they were also delivered back untouched.....
The post was a normal post so the postman just kept the box containing the bag at the entrance(easily accessible to public) and for whole day it was lying there until we came back in the evening...were we lucky or this is what should have happenned??
This happened 4.5 years back though...

And on multiple ocassions I have left my umbrella un attended and later on found the same lying exactly in the same place where I left...
These are all perspectives based on personal experiences...and we tend to share out bad experiences more often..

A

Alright you bleeding hearts, I suppose you think I should have given him my money too, to help the fellow out. Tisn't racism, just it was the best I can tell from his accent and such. What would you like me to do, lie and say he was from Romania or something? This is a summation of what I thought, after the fact. He was big, yes, he was black, yes, and my nearest guess on his accent put him in Nigeria. The level of hypocrisy here is irritating. Yall like to throw derogatory comments at people from Kosovo, and every other place on these boards, but as soon as I use three normal worlds to quickly describe an assailant that just happened to be of a specific non-caucasion ethnicity, you go bonkers. I would like to see you come up with a better description without tip-toeing around facts. Quit assuming and faffing off like morons every time your little minds perceive racism.

I can quote at least two examples of folks really being racist in this single thread.

For the record I am half Japanese.

Wow, I really even didn't have to go beyond the first page. Yall gloss happily over things like this, yet bark like crazy anytime someone utters the phrase 'black guy' with anything remotely negative. It is almost as if some folks have been moronically conditioned into knee-jerk reactions like pavlov dogs. I wonder if they drool when bells ring.

Unfortunately, you've chosen to underscore your point by quoting Canadian_dude. You're new here, so I guess you don't know just what that means -- but take a look at his current (and permanent) status on EF for a clue. Also, note that he got 13 groans for that trolling post; not exactly a ringing endorsement of his views by this forum, is it?

Using "yall" and groaning every post that disagrees with you doesn't really advance your cause, either.

...but on a more serious note, are you sure that he wasn't Ghanaian?