Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to steal, to pilfer.

1891		Kipling Light that Failed 135: ‘Do they [i.e. the students] still steal colours at lunch-time?’ ‘Not steal. Attract is the word. [...] I’m good — I only attract ultramarine; but there are students who’d attract flake-white.’.
1933		‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune 24: He ‘attracted’ some timber and built a boat house [OED].