This is the shocking moment a brazen thief tricks a woman and steals her £1,300 phone from under her nose.
Emma Horne was working at her salon in Warrington, Cheshire, in June when a man carrying a newspaper came in asking for a haircut.
After the 42-year-old explained she didn’t cut men’s hair he claimed to be asking for his wife, so she walked behind her desk to fetch a price list.
Footage shows the cap-wearing thief take the chance to unfold his newspaper and place it over her Samsung phone that was sitting on top of the desk.
He can then be seen swiping his newspaper and the hairdresser’s costly mobile off the counter and making a swift getaway before anyone had noticed the device was gone.
Ms Horne said she realised quickly after he left but she and a client couldn’t find him when they looked down a nearby street.
When they returned to the salon and checked their cameras they found the man’s cunning theft was captured on CCTV.
The incident has been reported to Cheshire Police and the force have confirmed enquiries are ongoing.
The salon owner said: ‘It happened so fast he was literally in the salon for minutes.
‘I went behind the counter to get a price list for him, then he put the newspaper over my phone and swiped it. It was gone within seconds.
‘I felt angry and I was dead upset because it’s the fact that someone came and took my property right in front of my face. He was standing right next to me.
‘He actually looks at the cameras and everything so he knew the cameras were there because he looks right at it.
‘About three minutes after he left, I was like, “where’s my phone?”.
‘Panic set in because I’ve got my whole work schedule and everything on my phone. Everything’s just gone.
‘I went straight into the bank and put a freeze on my cards because I’ve got savings accounts and everything on there. I can’t access my money now.
‘It happened so fast. The anger is setting in now. I’m quite frustrated with it because I’ve got to go out and get myself a new phone and everything now.
‘These people think they can go around and do this and get away with it.’
Ms Horne says she bought the phone eight months ago and had only recently finished paying for it.
She insists she usually welcomes everybody into her salon but believes she’ll be more wary of potential customers in future.
She said: ‘I feel a bit wary about things now. He did it so fast, we just didn’t see him. It makes you feel a bit uneasy.
‘We’ve got cameras for our own security and they’re still coming in and doing it.
‘We’re quite friendly in our salon and we welcome everybody but I suppose you’ve still got to be on your guard because these people are out there going around nicking phones.
‘Someone said they saw him lurking outside so he was obviously watching me put my phone down.’
A friend shared screenshots of the footage to Facebook in case a user recognised him and it has been shared more than 150 times.
Her post said: ‘This just happened 1hr ago at the Warrington Market.
‘The newspaper was a decoy. My friend just had her brand new Samsung swiped after he pretended to be interested in services at her salon.
‘He placed a newspaper on top of the phone and swiped it. Please share if you can.’
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: ‘At 11.38am on Tuesday 24 June, police were called to a report of theft at a hair salon in Time Square, Warrington.
‘The caller reported that approximately 30 minutes earlier, an unknown man had entered the salon posing as a client, and stole a mobile phone.
‘Enquiries in relation to the incident are ongoing and anyone with any information is asked to contact Cheshire Police.’
