Lost or Stolen?

A few months ago, I lost my handbag in a shopping centre in Gordon. I went to the police station to report the loss. The police officer wrote down my details, and descriptions of all the contents in my handbag. Finally he asked, "Was the handbag lost or stolen?" I replied, "I just knew my handbag disappeared when I left the shopping centre. I had no idea whether it was stolen or not,"
I thought that was only a particular incidence. But that evening when I got home, I rang up the banks and credit card centres to report losses of my bank cards and credit cards, and requested to re-issue replacements. I provided details of where and when they were lost. To my surprise, everybody asked the same question, "Was it lost or stolen?"
My goodness. I wonder how people can answer such a question. The thief wouldn't leave a note to us to let us know if the thing was indeed stolen!