"Shopping around, I need some shoes, and lots of sales," said Katy Burno, holiday shopper.

Crowds are looking for a few holiday gifts, but Austin police say someone else could be looking at shoppers for a quick steal.

APD arrested Ann Sachi Yanagawa, 20, this week for stealing purses from at least four different women in the parking lots of popular stores. Additionally the reports on holiday auto break-ins are growing too.

“My cousin's ex-girlfriend, her car got broken in to and they stole like her wallet and stuff, had all her money in there," said Nikki Williams, holiday shopper.

Police say a car gets broken in to every two minutes in the state and those numbers rise during the holidays, but shoppers say they're not worried.

"There's so many sales, that if you want it bad enough, you'll come," said Burno.

"I'm not too worried about it, I'm from New York, so you know. Austin's a great place to live, you know, to me crime is not that bad out here, you know, it could be worse," said George Pettus, holiday shopper.

APD has placed more officers on mall parking lots and inside shopping centers during the shopping season.

“They're really good, they're always scoping it out and APD is really good to, we always have about three officers in the mall,” said Burno.

Outside the mall police are looking in the parking lots. They’re looking for cars that are unlocked or cars with valuables in plain sight. When they find one, they'll put a warning notice on the car's windshield. It's not a ticket - just a crime prevention notice.

"I've pretty much got a habit of locking my stuff up," said Pettus.