S'porean woman allegedly took Taiwanese woman's cherished umbrella in Taipei, police report made

A Taiwanese woman has made a police report after her cherished umbrella was believed to have been taken by a Singaporean woman from the rack of a clothing store in Taipei, Taiwan, which did not belong to her.

The Taiwanese woman said she believes the woman is Singaporean, based on information provided when signing up for a membership at the store.

The local police in Taipei told the Taiwanese woman that it would take some time to find the suspect given the cases they are handling.

Worried that the person might be a tourist who would soon leave, the Taiwanese woman put up an appeal on social media for information on the woman.

"This umbrella holds precious memories for me," wrote the Taiwanese woman, who goes by the username @pillowpillowghost on Threads. "I only hope she can return my umbrella to me."

Why umbrella was left there?

@pillowpillowghost told Mothership that the clothing store, located in Taipei's Ximending shopping district, was among the chain of retail stores under the company she worked for.

The umbrella was a gift by a late older relative who had cared dearly for her, she told Mothership.

It pained her to find out that it had been taken, and she hoped that it would be returned to her.

On Nov. 13, she said she was busy transferring goods and orders between the company's various stores in Ximending, and left her umbrella behind in the rack at the front of one store.

She had messaged a colleague at that store to keep it safe for her, but as the store was busy with many customers, the colleague missed the message.

This colleague later told @pillowpillowghost that she had seen the woman pick up the umbrella, and that she told the woman that it was a very special umbrella that a colleague also had.

Upon hearing this, the woman smiled, but did not say much.

The umbrella has a unique design in the shape of a toucan, with the "beak" as part of the handle.

Seen leaving with the umbrella

The store's CCTV footage showed that around 6:27pm that day, a woman picked up the umbrella from the rack and initially brought it into the store with her.

Less than a minute later, she was seen walking away from the store with the umbrella in her hand.

It is not clear if she had taken it by mistake.

According to @pillowpillowghost's colleague, who was in the store at the time, the woman had been shopping with four other family members.

The woman's daughter had made a purchase at the store, and signed up for a membership, as the store was giving a discount to members at the time, @pillowpillowghost shared.

On the membership registration form, a photo of which was seen by Mothership, they had written that their nationality was Singaporean, and a Singapore phone number was provided.

@pillowpillowghost tried to call and WhatsApp message the number, but has not been able to get any response.

Top images from pillowpillowghost/Threads