Yesterday night the 25th Oct, while waiting at the Lausanne Rlwy Station on my way back to Zurich, I was approached by this white young lady asking for 4 CHF or something. She was hardly audible. I politely refused and she walked off.I saw her a few metres away being joined by her African friend. It was only in the train that i realised my wallet had been stolen. A few frantic calls to block my card followed.The bank told me that the card was already blocked after 3 unsuccessful tries by the thief. These thieves are so quick. I am off to the police to report this. Just wondering if I they would use me to identify the lady whose face i can recall. Also dont they have cameras near a cash vending machine ? just hoping something comes out of it.

Sorry to hear that. I have been picked pocketed before...not the best feeling...at the end got the important things back, like license, passport...but it is definitely not nice to be violated like that...they are professionals out there and they usually work in teams and they are quick. I hope the police can help you. I am heading to Lausanne this weekend and will keep my eyes out.

Depending on where you are in the station, there are cameras. CCTV is not used as much as in the UK but you would be surprise how many are there if you look for them. Most ATMs have them, but I have seen them on the tracks and sometimes in the sbb trains as well. I do not know if all are operational or how long they keep the footage, etc etc but its worth asking.

Good luck and sorry your night was such a mess.

Hi sorry to here about last night
you could try the railway station for the cctv footage to be saved and passed over to the police on a dvd
it may save you the ID parade as you should be able to ID the person/'s involved
I hope you work everything out ok

best wishes
and make today a good day

Sam

Sad. Don't let those grease balls get away with it. Nail em..

You must have let her get nice and close then....

Don't even bother....Swiss police actually discourage that you even report such an incident.

More probably her African friend lifted the wallet while she distracted the OP.

Where were you keeping the wallet?? I always keep it in my jacket (not in the backpocket of my pants)...

Under Pickpockets there are some, for want of a better word real "artists" you can't condone their actions but you can admire their skills.
Sorry to hear that you got rolled but at least you did not get a knife to the throat.

A friend of mine got ripped off in a similar way at Basel station and after reporting it the Police they took her on a tour of the area to identify the two guys involved.

If the people who took your purse were local there is a good chance they will be back at the station soon. You could even start hanging around there with some large friends and see if you can do the Police's job for them????

from this thread:
Purse stolen

and you would be quickly arrested, and being a fine upstanding citizen you would have the book thrown at you, good plan.

yes .. i do admire his skills .. at the same time feel stupid for allowing this to happen .. it was amazing .. i never felt the slightest touch to my pocket even though my pant was tight ... the guy was real good ...

in the backpocket ..

i am willing to go to lausanne from zurich if it helps .. i dont expect to get my money back .. it is spent in all probability ..

just reported the issue to a friendly english speaking policemen who has asked me to revert with more details from the bank ...(which cash machine, what time etc)

Wow, I have been living in Switzerland for 3 years and have not heard of any of these incidences. I am moving to Lausanne this weekend...so I will keep an eye out. I am glad I am a woman and carry my wallet in my purse!

maybe you should do a search on this site then! plenty of people have been robbed on the trains here, including women carrying purses! supermarkets are also a popular place for the theives (as welll as airports)

Now I'm not sure here. Are you being a bit sarcastic in response to my version of it or did you think I was being serious?

Hmmmm.

Just to confirm then that I wasn't really suggesting you start up a vigilante squad in Lausanne train station (there are surely much better places to do that).

(Ah, a bit grumpy today - I see)

Lausanne is pretty bad for this kinda of theft. Stealing handbags is another popular crime here. If you travel on the metro and it's busy keep yours wits about you. This sort of crime just adds fuel on the " throw the thieving auslanders out " fire started by the SVP!!

wish i had known this earlier

Well I read that you were being serious! There were no smileys,

A friend of mine got ripped off in a similar way at Basel station and after reporting it the Police they took her on a tour of the area to identify the two guys involved.

If the people who took your purse were local there is a good chance they will be back at the station soon. You could even start hanging around there with some large friends and see if you can do the Police's job for them????

Well I should apologise then but in fairness the appropriate use of smileys wasn't part of the curriculum in my English Language classes. Full stops, commas, colons, semi-colons, etc. we definitely did those but never smileys.

So to continue my education what is the appropriate use of bold text?