A SANTA CLAUS outfit doesn’t seem like the least conspicuous thing a thief preparing to hold up a bank could wear.

But a man in San Francisco has yet to be caught after doing exactly just that.

His sartorial choice, however, was more genius than it first appears.

He chose Saturday to carry out his masterplan in the US city on the same day as the infamous Santacon festival.

During Santacon, thousands of people dress up as the man himself and partake in some rowdy behaviours. Organisers describe the event as a “charitable, non-commercial, non-political nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year for absolutely no reason”.

Amidst all the drinking and debauchery on Saturday, the thief nipped into a bank in Union Square at about 1pm, according to SFGate.com.

He passed the bank employee a note to indicate the he had a handgun and wanted money.

She handed him an undisclosed amount of cash and he fled the scene – back to his fellow Santa friends.

Police Sgt. Monica MacDonald said, ”Any other day, Santa would have stood out but that day Santa was everywhere.”

So the man they are looking for? He’s described as between 40 and 50 years old and about 6 feet tall.

Er, good luck with that search.

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