Reading Woman Robbed At HomeGoods in Framingham Saturday

FRAMINGHAM, MA - A Reading woman shopping for vases at HomeGoods in Framingham Saturday afternoon said she was robbed of her purse and cell phone in what she believes was a targeted incident.

Trang Truong, 45, told Patch on Monday afternoon that she was shopping for vases on Saturday at the HomeGoods at the Framingham Mall across from Shoppers World in Framingham when a woman approached her and started asking her questions. Truong said she left her opened purse behind her in a shopping cart while taking a picture of three vases to get advice from her sister on which color to choose.

"I am still in shock," she said in an interview with Patch. "You always see these things on the news. Normally you just listen to it, but you never think it will be you."

Truong described the store as being "packed with people." She said she was in the center aisle toward the front of the store when she found a bench to place three vases on in order to take pictures.

"I couldn't decide which color, so I wanted to take a picture of all three," she explained. "I had my purse in my hand, but then I put it down in the shopping cart while I took the pictures."

At that point, Truong said that a woman approached her and began asking her questions.

"A lady came up to me and asked, 'What are those?'" Truong said. "In my head, I thought, 'Who would ask that?' But I put my phone in my purse and turned to her to tell her that they are vases. She was in front of me, face to face with me, and the cart was behind me."

Truong, who said she works in the pharmaceutical industry, went to take a vase from the benc theh. Then the woman - and her purse - disappeared.

"I only answered her for like 40 seconds," she said. "I turned around, and she was gone. So was the purse with my iPhone."

Truong immediately ran to a cashier to explain what happened.

"I told her, 'Lock the door. Someone just stole all my stuff,'" she said. "But they couldn't do that, so they got the manager."

The manager spoke with Truong and called the Framingham police, she said. While they waited, Truong borrowed the manager's phone to call her bank and credit card companies to put a hold on her cards.

"While I was on the phone with a credit card company, they told me that they saw someone made a charge at the Apple store at the Natick Mall," Truong said. "They tried to charge $6,000, and when it was rejected, they were able to charge $4,000. But how could Apple allow that to happen?"

Truong said the HomeGoods manager spoke with the Apple manager to explain the situation and to try to get surveillance footage.

"She told me that the Apple store manager said they don't do that, that there was nothing they could do," Truong said.

Between the Apple Natick charge and attempts on two other credit cards, the accused robber tried to take about $19,000, according to Truong.

"I really feel like I was targeted," she said. "There must have been two people working together. They saw I was alone and put my purse down for a moment. It would be hard to identify the woman because she was wearing a mask."

Now Truong said she is fearful because whoever has her purse also has her driver's license.

Truong said she suspects that the person who used her card at the Apple Natick card purchased gift cards.

"It seems suspicious because they were trying to charge even numbers - $6,000, $4,000," she stressed. "They probably bought a bunch of gift cards. With an amount that high, I don't know why the store didn't check for an ID. I mean, not everybody looks like me."

Truong said she wanted to share her story as a warning to other shoppers.

"I would tell everyone to call the bank and credit card companies as soon as possible," she said. "Don't even wait until you get home. And always hold onto your purse."

She added that people may fall prey to robbers because people are getting reaccustomed to shopping in person in crowds again.

"We have been cooped up for two years," Truong said. "I think we are not used to shopping in person like we were before, and it feels strange. People can take advantage. And with the prices of everything being so high, I think there are people looking to steal to get some money. I consider it a lesson learned, and I don't want this to happen to someone else."

Calls to the Framingham Police Department were not immediately returned.