Was I part of a huge scam??

[Louise]

Hi, been the unfortunate victim of my bag being stolen yesterday while sitting down at a resturant. For the first time in my life I hanged my bag with so much personal effect and my videokamera and camera with over 1000 photos on over the back of my chair.....2min later an old man begged for some money, and when he left and I turned around my bag was gone.....30min later a motor car with an elderly couple drive up to where we were sitting and told us that we were being watched and to be carfull, and that apparently the brazillian touristnext to us in the resturant were filming us with a videocamera.....this all sounds very suspicious and I will value anyone{s opinion on this please. Also what are the changes of recovering my meomory cards of my camera???The incident happened in San Telmo....

 

[Stanexpat]

I don't know about people filming you but it sounds like you got hit with one of the most common crimes there, the old grab the purse off the back of the chair, the older couple were probably just warning that there were still some bad folks in the area.

You are in good company as one of the Bush daughters visiting B.A. a couple years ago in San Telmo had the same thing happen, presumably with the Secret Service watching.

In the future if you are in place like that were people come off the street to beg you need to keep your purse very secure. Many places there have hooks or latches on the back of chairs to help prevent this from happening.

 

[Zenobia]

Unfortunately, this happens to the best of us. I don't usually go to San Telmo, but I find that wherever you go, the best way to avoid theft is to keep your bag and anything else you have with you in plain sight all the time. I had two umbrellas stolen in a single day once in New York just for leaving them out of my site for a minute or less. It didn't matter that the first umbrella was slightly broken, either, or that the second umbrella theft of the day happened in a fancy hotel. Just be very careful and watch out for people who might be trying to distract you.