Another Norfolk beauty salon has been targeted by a distraction thief who made off with the owner's mobile phone following a "strange and uncomfortable" interaction.
Kay Willmott, 33, was busy with a client at Elle Belle's in Wellington Road, Dereham, when a woman entered around 2.40pm on Saturday.
The woman, wearing winter clothes, had her face covered when she entered and appeared to speak little to no English, according to Ms Willmott.
"After she came in, she seemed to be bouncing between asking for a colour and cut and eyelashes and we were trying our hardest to help her and not let a language barrier get in the way," she said.
"She started going into areas of the salon that clients don't really go to and then came over and stood very close to me and my colleague who were busy at the lash beds.
"She then proceeded to lean right over my client and me and was touching all of our equipment behind us.
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"I put my hands up and gestured she needed to move back."
Ms Willmott has been running Elle Belle's for six years and has not experienced a similar incident in that time.
"We really couldn’t work out what she was saying and she was picking things up but I told her nothing was for sale," she said.
"It had gone really quiet and I ferried her toward and out of the door, thinking how strange and uncomfortable the whole interaction was.
"After she had gone, I turned to pick up my phone and check the outside camera and realised it was missing.
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"It wasn't even one metre away from me when she took it and I'm so annoyed I didn't notice, but my main concern was with my client."
It follows a recent spate of similar incidents across salons in Norfolk this year in which mobile phones have been stolen from under the noses of employees using distraction techniques.
A spokeswoman for Norfolk Constabulary confirmed that an investigation into the theft is under way.
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