Amid virus fears, woman robbed of €50,000
April 22, 2020
A thief in Hamburg made off with around €50,000 ($54,400) in cash after stealing a woman's purse outside a bank in Hamburg, local authorities and media reported Wednesday.
"It is rare that handbag robberies yield such sums," a police spokeswoman said, according to the German dpa news agency.
The woman had taken all of her savings out of the bank due to fears that the lending institution would go under due to an economic crisis brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported.
Read more: Dresden police release details of brazen €1 billion heist
On the afternoon of April 16, the 52-year-old woman had been walking from the bank branch to her car when a cyclist swiped her handbag with the money inside.
It is unclear whether the crime was a coincidence or if the woman had been targeted.
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