Lord have mercy. I have long since stopped carting a purse around. If I need tissue/lipstick or something like that I put it in my “fake off” purse. Real bag locked in trunk AT HOME. The money and all that is in a very small wallet that fits in a pocket and is safety pinned in if pocket is not deep enough. “Fake bag”? I rarely bother, but when I do, I act as if it is the real deal and zip/take with me from buggy or whatever. If someone takes it I plan to yell “HAHA!” in my nastiest voice (not really, but the idea sounds good to my head - let ‘em run.
This ploy IS evil. Again, no situational awareness going on. But as Dennis has mentioned, there are a lot of older people who think this isn’t possible/probable. This is why we need security teams at church. Too many folks in condition white because everyone in there is SUPPOSED to believe like you do, it was always safe before, etc. A security team probably wouldn’t have prevented this, but they aren’t exactly there for that (IMHO).