Shoppers in Southport are being warned to look after their wallets and purses during the Christmas shopping period.
The peak retail time means that more people are carrying larger amounts of money with them and the Merseyside Police and Homewatch team are urging people to be on their guard from opportunistic thieves.
Christmas shopping has started, the towns and shops are getting busy for the festive season.
It is always important to take care of your bag and wallet, but now is the time to take extra precautions because people are carrying more money or credit cards around with them to buy those very important presents.
Look after your bag, purse and wallet or somebody else will!
Do not keep pin numbers inside the purse with cards as this is then easy for thieves to steal from bank accounts
The majority of crimes of this nature are committed against females with purses stolen from inside hand bags.
A large number of offences take place inside charity shops in the town centre.
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