I have noticed more and more reports of attacks and robberies associated with customers of various types of stores. Let me clarify a little, I’ll tell you about two such attacks and then offer some safety tips to help avoid becoming a victim.

A woman was in a 7-11 convenience store waiting in line to buy some cigarettes and junk food. When it became her turn to be waited on she placed her purse on the counter and fumbled around through her money looking for the smaller bills.

Now the whole time she is fiddling with her cash the guy behind her is taking note. He then follows her out of the store and to her home where he robs her at gun point and then fires a shot into her back tire.

In another attack, a woman bought a scratch off in a convenience store and then she left. A few moments she returned hugging the clerk because she just won $500.00. Unfortunately, 3 women in the store overheard her celebration with the clerk and followed her outside. They asked to see the ticket and grabbed it from her and then they took off running.

They were caught but the ticket was never recovered and thankfully the woman was not hurt in the attack but it should get you thinking.

How careful are you in public with flashing money or jewelry? Do you only use caution if someone behind you looks like a bad guy?

Sadly most people are not careful at all and they don’t exercise enough caution to avoid upping their odds of becoming a victim.

You should ALWAYS be careful about showing your wad of cash even if it is not that large or mostly small bills. Don’t bring that kind of bad attention to yourself! Get yourself in the habit of always being extra cautious whether anyone is near you or not. If you make it a habit it will help to lower your odds of attack.

I find it best, while in my vehicle, to grab some cash out of my wallet and place it into my front pocket. Generally you have a rough idea of what you are going to spend so have that bill handy so there is no need to open your purse or pull out a wallet.

This goes for both men and women; I have seen both making this mistake all the time and if you start to pay attention to people in stores you’ll see it too. I was in the store yesterday and a women had what looked like a decent wad ($200 plus) sitting in an open wallet on the very top of her also open large purse. You couldn’t miss the money and I thought to myself that she is a victim waiting to happen.

Don’t make this mistake, always use caution and this goes for pumping gas but that is for another blog!

Be safe out there!

Tags: Man Pepper Sprayed by Police

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Crime, Self Defense, Women's Safety | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.