Fado is undoubtedly doing its fake Irish best to gear up for the approaching hilarity that is St. Pat’s—-stocking up on green beads, flashing shamrocks, puke powder—-but heed this warning, fake Irish revelers: The place is purse-snatching central.

Well, maybe that’s pushing it a bit far, but after a recent Caps game, I did have my messenger bag swiped from the floor between my feet there and have since had to replace everything from my mail key to the speed-dial for the D.C. Hypothermia Hotline. (The D.C. DMV, by the way, will be glad to send you a new license. Fill it out online, pay seven bucks, and get it in the mail…IF you have the number on your license handy without having your actual license. So write it down. Consider it one more warning from yours truly.)

But back to Fado. You don’t have to take my word for it, since Posties confirmed it:

Vanessa Rodriguez, 26, a bartender and manager at Fado Irish Pub on Seventh Street NW, was standing at the bar one night after finishing her shift when a woman asked for directions. Rodriguez’s purse was at her feet. The woman “pretty much distracted me, and my purse was gone and so were” the woman and a male companion, Rodriguez said. Outside, someone saw the couple hop into a cab.

“I was surprised it happened right in front of my face,” she said. “I was surprised I fell for it.”Now, Rodriguez added, she never lets go of her purse. “I just don’t set it down anymore. I don’t take it off my person,” she said

Apparently, this little trick isn’t limited to Fado. The thieves have a whole shtick happening all over town. But I have a solution to this crime spree: Bum Bags.