This is the shocking moment thieves ransacked a designer handbag shop in front of terrified visitors in California.

The masked robbers burst into the Coach outlet in Los Angeles and helped themselves to goods on October 24 at around 7pm.

Shocked tourist Pook, who was on holiday from Asia, trembled as she cowered behind a shelf while recording the gang.

They eventually left with sacks full of goods worth tens of thousands of dollars - with employees unable to stop them.

Pook said: 'I was scared. But nobody was doing anything. The employees said they were not allowed to do anything.

‘I spent a lot of money on Coach handbags there. It makes me angry that people can just take them for free.'

Smash-and-grab robberies at high-end stores have soared in recent years across California and the United States.

In August, a Nordstrom shop in west San Fernando Valley was attacked by a flash mob of 30 to 50 masked thieves who stole designer goods worth around 100,000 USD.

Just a week before, thieves raided a Yves Saint Laurent store in a shopping mall, taking goods worth 300,000 USD.