Chinese Tourist's LV Bag Stolen At Gardens By The Bay, Chases Down Suspected Thief & Gets It Back

Singapore is known for being so safe that people have no qualms about leaving their bags — or even mobile phones — unattended to chope tables at food courts or hawker centres while they go get their food.

So imagine Chinese tourist and Xiaohongshu user 老黑livefree’s shock when his Louis Vuitton bag was stolen at Gardens by the Bay.

On his very first trip overseas, no less.

The tourist, who describes himself as a, um, “195cm muscular man”, shared his account in several Xiaohongshu posts this week.

The incident happened at around 9pm on October 5, after he and his friends caught the light show at Supertree Grove.

As the group huddled together to discuss their plans, his bag was left behind them.

He then heard hurried footsteps and, worried someone might step on his bag, turned around — only to discover it was gone.

Luckily, he had left his wireless earphones inside the bag so he could track them.

He decided to head towards an exit in hopes of catching the culprit.

And that's when luck really kicked in.

“I ran into someone and raised my hand because I wanted to ask him for directions. He immediately took off running,” recalled the tourist.

He gave chase and managed to wrest a paper bag from the man and discovered his LV bag inside.

Just 20 minutes after realising it had been stolen, he had his bag back.

Looking back, the tourist said the man, who was wearing a black headscarf, appeared suspicious to him.

The man, however, got away.

The tourist continued chasing him until he disappeared into some bushes, where the thick foliage made it difficult to see where he'd gone.

He began shouting “thief” for help, and a young woman nearby pointed out the direction the man had fled.

By then, however, he was gone.

While the tourist recovered his LV bag, several things inside were missing, including his passport, Pocket camera and livestreaming equipment.

Curiously, one of the socks he'd tossed into his bag earlier was gone too.

According to him, an eyewitness saw the fleeing man carrying what appeared to be his Pocket camera, while his other belongings had apparently been stuffed into one of the socks.

Yes, even his sock allegedly got stolen — after being turned into a makeshift loot bag.

The chase also left the tourist with blisters on his left foot.

Still, he was remarkably chill about the whole thing.

“Losing some money isn't a big deal,” he said, adding that he was more concerned about getting his passport back.

Believes theft was carried out by a group

“Can Singapore's public safety really be trusted?” the tourist questioned in a follow-up post on Oct 8.

He said he believes the theft wasn't the work of a lone thief.

“What we can confirm today is that this thief wasn't acting alone. He was part of a group,” he claimed, adding that the man he chased was likely there to collect the stolen goods.

According to the tourist, he later reviewed surveillance footage with Gardens by the Bay and said they were able to retrace the man's movements and locate the vehicle he allegedly used.

He claimed the man appeared to deliberately avoid CCTV cameras, parking in an area designated for buses and driving out through an entrance and entering via an exit, preventing cameras from capturing his licence plate.

Even the route he took while being chased appeared to avoid surveillance.

“The road where we had the scuffle happened to be a road without surveillance cameras,” said the tourist, who believes the man took a longer route to avoid CCTV before circling back to the carpark.

He said the footage and information had since been handed over to the police, and that footage from passing vehicles could potentially help identify the car's licence plate.

At the time of his Oct 8 update, however, he said he had yet to hear back from the police.

“If I hadn't immediately realised my bag was missing and luckily run into the suspect, I think it would simply have been treated as something I'd accidentally lost,” he wrote.

Many netizens were equally surprised that the incident happened in Singapore.

“The crazy part is this happened in Singapore… I thought everyone said it's super safe there?” read one comment.

“Singapore is actually very small and really quite safe. There are CCTVs everywhere and theft is quite rare, so I was also surprised to see something like this happen,” wrote one netizen.

Another had some practical advice: “Bro, don't carry an LV when travelling overseas. It's way too conspicuous.”