After 6 years of aggressive travel: pickpocketed!

[Dtail]

Wow, amazed at the sheer number of stories. I don't have much to contribute, as +30 years of living/working in NYC and riding crowded trains/subways and international travel have taught me to be hyper-vigilant, even if going to the corner to get a carton of milk. I always put my wallet in my front pocket, only carry bare minimum of credit cards, and am very aware of securing my iPhone (probably the most valuable loose personal item). Fortunately, I don't think NYC pickpockets are quite as adept as their European and developing world peers.

Yup. Once on a NYC subway while standing, the guy sitting in front of me put his hand in my front pocket. I looked at him, he looked at me, removed his hand and we both continued our trip.

 

[LateToFIRE]

Yup. Once on a NYC subway while standing, the guy sitting in front of me put his hand in my front pocket. I looked at him, he looked at me, removed his hand and we both continued our trip.

+1 , LMAO, that is a classic NYC subway story

 

[Eagle43]

In Barcelona. I was going up on escalator. Guy in front spilled coins and blocked us. I tried to help him. This setup had the guy behind me pick my back pockets. Fortunately, I had put our passports in my underwear and my wallet in front pocket. All he got was my glasses case. Lucky me.

 

[audreyh1]

Oh yeah - the escalator trick - another well known Barcelona scam.

 

[explanade]

Once in Barcelona a guy threw his hot chocolate for his churros on me and tried to pretend to help me clean up. I gestured for him to stay away.

Another time on a vaporetto at night, some guy stood right next to me, even though the boat wasn't full and he had undone an internal zipper on a shoulder bag. Only thing I had in there was my checkbook, which wasn't going to do him any good in Venice.

 

[Scrapr]

My one experience (that I know of) was NYC subway station about 2 months ago. We had exited the subway and making our way out...which involved a long escalator down. As we were not in a hurry we stood off to one side to let anyone in a hurry pass. I'm in front & my wife is behind. I had my phone in my rear left pocket. Escalator not busy. I didn't see anything but my wife watched a man passing & his hand started in for my phone...just then my hand went back & put my hand on my phone/pocket. And just like that his hand smootly moves back & he goes on by. She follows him to the platform going the other direction...same train. He unloads his haul into the accomplise plastic bag. He looks up at us & we beat feet

1 credit card & room card was in my front pocket

 

[athena53]

Wow, amazed at the sheer number of stories. I don't have much to contribute, as +30 years of living/working in NYC and riding crowded trains/subways and international travel have taught me to be hyper-vigilant, even if going to the corner to get a carton of milk.

DH lived in NYC for years. When we went to Rome in 2003 the first pickpocketing incident happened- we were on the subway and he had his wallet in his back pocket. Fortunately he had little cash but had to call credit card companies to report them stolen. I had other cards so we were OK.

All I can figure is that since it was a day or two after we arrived he was in a daze of jet lag.

 

[LateToFIRE]

My one experience (that I know of) was NYC subway station about 2 months ago. We had exited the subway and making our way out...which involved a long escalator down. As we were not in a hurry we stood off to one side to let anyone in a hurry pass. I'm in front & my wife is behind. I had my phone in my rear left pocket. Escalator not busy. I didn't see anything but my wife watched a man passing & his hand started in for my phone...just then my hand went back & put my hand on my phone/pocket. And just like that his hand smootly moves back & he goes on by. She follows him to the platform going the other direction...same train. He unloads his haul into the accomplise plastic bag. He looks up at us & we beat feet

1 credit card & room card was in my front pocket

Ah yes, the ole phone in back pocket habit. Tough to break as that's how I carry my phone around when I'm at home or tooling around our weekend home town where crime wave equals a couple of luxury cars or tricked-out pick-up trucks got stolen because the owners left the keys in the vehicle overnight. Usually takes me a few seconds of walking along a NYC street before I realize need to move phone from back-pocket where its screaming "take me".

 

[LateToFIRE]

DH lived in NYC for years. When we went to Rome in 2003 the first pickpocketing incident happened- we were on the subway and he had his wallet in his back pocket. Fortunately he had little cash but had to call credit card companies to report them stolen. I had other cards so we were OK.

All I can figure is that since it was a day or two after we arrived he was in a daze of jet lag.

Have never seen it myself, but years ago friends told me about an old school trick in Rome where someone throws a (fake) baby at you, and then as you instinctively catch it you get swarmed and picked over by their accomplices. Clever.

 

[sengsational]

^That's robbery. I think the consequences for picking pockets are negligible, but less so for forcibly taking stuff. It's a career decision

 

[Chuckanut]

On my first trip to Italy, walking to my hotel from the train station I was mobbed by a group of about 6 elementary school age children. They were grabbing for my day pack and trying to get my suitcase from me. I kept moving and brushing them off. I also knew a bit of Italian and kept shouting - Basta! Policia! Auitomi!! Enough! Police! Help me! Also I had taken the precaution of using cheap ties to keep them pulling the zippers open on my daypack. They do that so things fall out, and they take what they can get and run. After less than a minute they all scattered having failed.

I think knowing a bit of the language helps. You are no longer appear to be the naive foreign tourist they thought you were.

But, wash your ears out with this….

In Scotland, I stupidly left my camera bag on the public transit bus I had taken to my BnB. It had two weeks of photos from Croatia in it as well as the equipment worth well over $1000 at that time. The owner of the BnB read the bus number from my ticket, and we took his car on a brief drive through the neighborhood to see if we could find the bus and get my bag. No joy. The next day he took me to the bus company lost and found, where my bag was waiting for me. A good soul had turned it in.

The bus company charge 5 euros for the service, which I gladly paid. Amazingly, some other person was there moaning and groaning about having to pay 5 euros to get his lost item.

 

[LateToFIRE]

^ All this reminds me of the large bill switcheroo:

Years ago, was returning to office in a cab after a business meeting. I'm distracted, trying to catch up on email on phone, and the [foreign accented] cabbie keeps chatting about stupid stuff and carrying on about scamsters and how honest he is blah blah blah. We pull up to the office building and I hand him a $20 bill for a $15 fare (again not very focused on what I'm doing) and he turns around with a disgusted look on his face and goes "hey buddy, whats da deal here you only give me a $5 dollar bill here", waving a crumpled bill at me.

Ah yes, another NYC moment. I was sure I gave him the correct bill, and now recognized the set-up. But stuff like this is sooo not worth fighting over, so I gave him a few more dollars. I could tell by the final smirk on his face that he was very pleased with his scamster skills. And I'm sure later back at the cabbie roost there would be tall tails about his profit boosting techniques.

Ugh, and the worst part is I wasn't even a tourist.

 

[audreyh1]

I’m OK with having moneybelts under our clothes - money belts under pants or neck pouch which DH prefers. He’s quite tall.

 

[audreyh1]

The bus company charge 5 euros for the service, which I gladly paid. Amazingly, some other person was there moaning and groaning about having to pay 5 euros to get his lost item.

I think that’s brilliant - they work a lost and found. You lost it, you pay for retrieval.

 

[2017ish]

I’m OK with having moneybelts under our clothes - money belts under pants or neck pouch which DH prefers. He’s quite tall.

Yeah, we have moneybelts in our closet at home. Methinks that they won't be staying home on future trips! (At least when we are in cities/towns. Not going to be wearing them on treks in the tropics...)

 

[sengsational]

Talking about kids grabbing stuff...I was with a group of motorcycle riders (very small motorcycles) when kids swarmed my compatriots. I fired up all 49cc's of my steed and aimed for the center of the swarm. They scattered like flies, LOL! I was up on the pegs, keeping it in first to be as loud as the little screamer could be, and trying to look like the brakes were not being considered. I probably only got up to 11mph, but it did the trick.

 

[Sixteen Tons]

Here is another product to discourage pickpockets:
https://www.clothingarts.com

 

[Koolau]

^That's robbery. I think the consequences for picking pockets are negligible, but less so for forcibly taking stuff. It's a career decision

Consequences of losing CCs, DL, travel documents, maybe passport, phone, medical cards, etc. can be devastating - especially since you may be in a location that you don't speak the language and you don't know anyone. Some here are quite savvy about such things, but I wouldn't know where to begin "reconstructing" my life. I picture the pick pocket grabbing the cash, maybe the CCs then pitching the rest. It's "life" to me but trash to him. It should be a hanging offense! (Not really - maybe just public caning.)

I agree that being "attacked" is worse than simple pick poketing, but taking your important stuff is much worse a crime than the "petty crime" moniker usually attached to it.

When I was traveling in Europe, I put my travel documents in a small zipped case and pinned it inside my front pocket. To take that small case, they would have had to rip out my pants. I did carry a dummy wallet. Picture the wallet in "Catch Me If You Can." I almost wished someone would take it, thinking it was full of cash and CCs. When they opened it they would be really disappointed.

Oh, and cash in my GoldToe tops. Try to take that!

 

[Buckeye]

I've encountered places in E. Europe where they were reluctant to take credit. Serbia and Romania were fine, Bulgaria and Albania were less so. A jeweler in Albania told me the credit card machine was broken- could I get the money from a nearby ATM? It was a $100 purchase- I bet the machine would have started working suddenly if I'd spent $1,000+. A restaurant on the main drag in Skoder, Albania (big tourist spot for locals)- some things. We didn't note in entering that there were no credit card logos displayed.

Fortunately I'm not the pickpocket magnet my dear husband was.

We are in Portugal right now and I have been surprised how often I need actual paper euros. Last night's hotel room in the Douro Valley was cash only. This was about the 3rd or 4th instance. Also, twice I have been tagged with a 5% upcharge when using credit (actually, tap to pay on my phone). I'm fine with it if it's going to compensate these smaller businesses for the extra charges they incur for processing credit cards but the one server I asked didn't know (unsurprisingly) who got it.

 

[Buckeye]

Consequences of losing CCs, DL, travel documents, maybe passport, phone, medical cards, etc. can be devastating - especially since you may be in a location that you don't speak the language and you don't know anyone. Some here are quite savvy about such things, but I wouldn't know where to begin "reconstructing" my life. I picture the pick pocket grabbing the cash, maybe the CCs then pitching the rest. It's "life" to me but trash to him. It should be a hanging offense! (Not really - maybe just public caning.)

I agree that being "attacked" is worse than simple pick poketing, but taking your important stuff is much worse a crime than the "petty crime" moniker usually attached to it.

When I was traveling in Europe, I put my travel documents in a small zipped case and pinned it inside my front pocket. To take that small case, they would have had to rip out my pants. I did carry a dummy wallet. Picture the wallet in "Catch Me If You Can." I almost wished someone would take it, thinking it was full of cash and CCs. When they opened it they would be really disappointed.

Oh, and cash in my GoldToe tops. Try to take that!

I'm pretty sure our travel insurance policy has a number to call for assistance with replacements.

 

[audreyh1]

We are in Portugal right now and I have been surprised how often I need actual paper euros. Last night's hotel room in the Douro Valley was cash only. This was about the 3rd or 4th instance. Also, twice I have been tagged with a 5% upcharge when using credit (actually, tap to pay on my phone). I'm fine with it if it's going to compensate these smaller businesses for the extra charges they incur for processing credit cards but the one server I asked didn't know (unsurprisingly) who got it.

A very recent trip Germany/Belgium/Netherlands we used Apple Pay with our watches everywhere but Albert Hein a Netherlands grocery major chain. Super convenient.

 

[braumeister]

A very recent trip Germany/Belgium/Netherlands we used Apple Pay with our watches everywhere but Albert Hein a Netherlands grocery major chain. Super convenient.

Same here on my month-long trip this summer. England, Jersey, Scotland, Norway, Faroes, and Iceland. The only place I couldn't use my watch was in one pub in Jersey, and it felt so strange having to pull out a credit card to be swiped.

 

[Chuckanut]

We are in Portugal right now and I have been surprised how often I need actual paper euros. Last night's hotel room in the Douro Valley was cash only. This was about the 3rd or 4th instance.

I was recently in Portugal. Many small restaurants and snack shops only take cash. Especially in the less touristy towns and neighborhoods.

 

[Markola]

That’s crazy. Sorry that happened to you. I’m traveling internationally right now and it makes me want to be wary.

 

[brett]

I believe that travel calls for a common sense approach that assumes you will be the victim of a pick pocket.

The only remaining question after that is how to protect yourself by, at the very least, absolutely protecting key items such as cc, id's, and your any stash of cast that you might have.

We see it so often when we travel. People hanging purses, etc on the the back of chairs in outdoor cafes. People flashing wallets full of credit cards and money in stores. People leaving purses, bags, cameras etc. on the ground at the foot of their chair in outdoor dining venues. Worse, people dropping backpacks etc to turn around and snap a photo or a selfie of themselves or others.

You need to exercise a certain amount of basic common sense. You need to be aware of what can happen. You need to be aware of your surroundings. Thieves are on the lookout for those who do not practice these basic precautions. Even if you do practice all of these and more you can still very easily become a victim.