Beauty therapists were dismayed to find themselves the victims of a cruel distraction theft after a visitor stole mobile phones from right under their noses.
Darcy's Beauty & Nail Emporium was the target of the daring theft which saw two phones stolen and workers fearing for their safety.
One of the phones has ended up in Romania and staff believe the thefts are part of an organised crime operation.
Abbie Holgate, who was giving a massage in a different room at the time of the theft, said an older woman entered the business close to closing time at 7pm on September 15.
Sophie, a therapist who was at the front desk, was cashing up when the woman came in and attempted to help her while she walked around the lobby, picking up and holding things.
The woman spoke little English and while Sophie tried to understand what she wanted, the woman used distraction to steal two phones from the front desk.
CCTV footage shows the moment she leans over the desk, and while hiding her hand under a picture, pockets the two devices.
Sensing something was wrong, Sophie called Abbie in from the other room and with her help escorted the woman from the building, locking the door behind her.
They then discovered the woman had stolen their phones and attempted to track her down, with Abbie driving down the street and asking people if they had seen anyone matching her description.
Failing to find her, they called the police.
A police spokeswoman said enquiries are ongoing to locate the woman involved.
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Using tracking software to find her phone later that night, Abbie could see that it was already in Ilford, east London.
A matter of days later, her phone had made it to Romania.
"This panicked me, realising this is organised crime," she said.
"I started to panic about the safety of my baby and felt so unsettled that these people had all my baby pictures.
"My anxiety went to 1000 in a second and I honestly thought there was more to this than just stealing phones.
"I rang the police up hysterically, explaining my fears and worries and safety for my family."
In response to the theft, Abbie and her team have been forced to change their salon to a booking-only system and keep the doors locked at all hours.
Speaking to other salon owners on social media, Abbie found out more than five had been targeted by the same woman, some as far as Essex and Sussex.
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She added: "It is hard enough to run a business in these current times, let alone the additional challenges such as this one.
"I feel it is important for salons and other retailers to be made aware.
"While to a lot of people, it's just a couple of phones, your life is on your phone these days.
"It's a major inconvenience and very time-consuming having to cancel and block everything over and over again."
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