When my sister had a big garage sale, a friend stopped by and told her to watch out for a middle-aged woman who drove a luxury car and made the garage sale circuit frequently to steal things. No sooner had she told us that when the woman walked in the door. As she was getting ready to leave, the Spousal Equivalent came over and whispered that she wasn't carrying a purse with her when she came in and she had one now. My sister went over to her and nicely asked if she was ready to check out and pay for the purse. The woman tossed down the purse and said she decided she didn't want it and stomped out. When we opened the purse, it was stuffed with small stuff, nothing valuable, just stuff.
It's a sickness on some people's fault....the need to steal worthless stuff, just for the thrill of it. Some steal for the profit. In my area, there is a certain islander group that are infamous for coming to garage sales and snatching everything they can. They come in a large group and distract you while the others grab. At my last sale (and hopefully, it will be my LAST garage sale every), I actually had to threaten to call the police if they didn't leave.
