I am a television researcher working for London Weekend
Television on a documentary about pick-pockets.
I am trying to find interesting stories about pick-
pocketting either in the UK or abroad. Have you ever been
pick-pocketted? Were you drunk at the time? When did you
realise you had been robbed? Did the person/gang use a
particular method? Have you ever robbed anyone else?
Do you live in a city that particularly suffers from this
type of crime?
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In Thailand I was jumping on a ferry and because there are
heaps of people I didn't feel it at first. I felt someone
too close and instinctively put my hand on my back pack. I
grabbed a guy's hand who was pulling out of my bag. He
looked at me and ran away. He only got my cigarettes. No
biggy.
Been pick-pocketed on a bus in Buda, Budapest, it was too
crowded, didn't see/feel a thing. I know someone it happened
to - in the tube in Pragha, a few guys. Sort of seen a
stranger in London, as a child - by a gang, on the way
in/out an elevator in a hostel, he felt them, they dropped
the walet and ran away. No victim was under the influence of
alcohol.
I was in Lima, Peru, with a shoulder bag which I wore
strapped diagonally over my body, holding it in front of
me. My friend saw this pickpocket, who was walking around
behind me, checking me out. He saw that I had my bag on the
diagonal, in front of me, with my hands on it, and must
have decided that it was too hard for a quick steal and so
he moved on.
I had heaps of friends lose their watches in Lima. They
were just walking along, and someone in a crowd grabbed
their watch and wrenched it off! No one was drunk.
My tip is to get a daypack which has a zipper that you can
padlock shut. I got a small combination lock, which I
ALWAYS used to lock my bag shut, and I didn't have anything
stolen in four months in central and south America. Also,
if you're standing in a crowd with your backpack on your
back (a lot of people wear them on their fronts) then just
slightly sway as you're standing there. Makes it much
easier to feel if anyone is touching your bag.
About 5 years ago in Hong Kong there was a spate of rather
dangerous pick pockets. They would slash large bags with a
knife on crowded busses. Stuff would of course fall out and
they would grab the wallet. Police were concerned because
of the possility of slashing the person's body. Don't know
how the problem was finally resolved, if ever
There has been a large increase in pick-pocketing in Ho chi
Minh-city. Got robbed of my purse which I wore diagonally
across my body. The thieves sat on a motorbike, they slowed
down as they approached me. I was waiting to cross the
street, when they drove up beside me and the guy in the
back just took a hold of my purse. As the driver speeded up
I got the purse ripped off. (leaving me with a wound, as
the straps on my purse cut into my arm.)
The current scam in Beunos Aires is that you're walking
along and feel something wet land on your head. A couple of
people gather round you saying "bird shit, bird shit",
helping to clean you off - and your pocket is done. My
brother was done during the recent climate conference there
(they target bald men particularily), and when I told a
friend about it, I heard another pal was similarily
accosted just before christmas.
The conical hats the Vietnamese wear are the ideal shelter
for pickpocketing tall foreign women. In a crowded street
the hat shields their hands from your front pockets,
sunglasses in the front of a tee-shirt etc. Quick and
effective. Another ruse is the cyclo driver that suddenly
has a heart condition and puts you into a taxi where you
are suddenly joined by a couple of strangers who relieve
you of all your valuables. Saigon is the worst by far in
this respect.
ON A CROWDED BUS IN THAILAND MY HUBBY HAD HIS MONEYBELT
SLASHED (HE WAS WEARING IT UNDER HIS PANTS BUT HAD IT OVER
HIS BUM FOR SOME REASON!) WHEN WE GOT OFF THE BUS I SAW
IT STRAIGHT AWAY. THEY HAD CUT JUST ENOUGH SPACE TO PULL
OUT HIS AMEX TRAV CHQS. LUCKILY I WAS CARRYING OUR
PASSPORTS.WHEN WE WENT TO THE POLICE STATION TO REPORT IT
THERE WAS ANOTHER LADY THERE WITH A LEATHER BAG SLASHED
DOWN THE SIDE. I THINK THEY MUST OF USED A RAZOR BLADE.
I had my wallet stolen in Camden Market, London, when I was
living there. Didn't feel a thing as it was in my knapsack.
They must have just dumped it because the police called me a
couple of weeks later with my (empty) wallet.
*In Greece, I was pushing a stroller of the little girl I was a nanny for. A group of gypsy kids were in the area, and suddenly one of the kiosk owners came out hopping and yelling at them. I thought he was being racist, but they dropped my wallet (which I hadn't realized they'd stolen from the bag attached to the stroller) and ran away.
*
*In Bali, at a night fair, a man I was introduced to, took my hand gently and kept holding on to it. I was uncomfortable being touched and pulled my hand away. When I pulled it back, my ring was almost off my finger.
apparently, the poorer and increasing S American population
of Madrid (accordg to the police later) are robbing
many tourists. 2 Teens approached me from behind (last
jun97), in the old Latin Quarter, in broad daylight at 2:30
in the aftrnn, and in one downward push, ripped the
"asspack" (ie fannypack,waistbag....whatever you call those
goddawful things) right off my body. Luckily I've always
hated them and hadnt worn one in years; also smart enuf to
be carrying just junk as i was just being lazy that day(ie
no $$, passports, tickets, valuables) but the violence of
the situation, the roughness, the suddenness, the
unknowingness of the approach left its mark. i saw also one
of them had a small knife concealed in his hand; they did
mean to get that bag - they definitely meant business.
What they didnt expect was a chase and the noise we made. we
screamed and chased them throught the small sidestreets but,
naturally, at one point we could go straight, left or right
and didnt know which way they'd gone...
This reaction of ours surprised them as it showed in their
expression as we started at them...my friend actually had
jumped on the one with my bag who passed it off to the
other....i was hoping later that the fact that we reacted at
all might serve as some deterrent to their next crime....but
probably not. we (also as 2 females) could have been hurt as
well...the neighborhood , as interestg as it was, was
obviously poor and had sinister questionables lingering
about with hooded eyes.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The gypsies tend to try to rob people by distracting them
with big newspapers or large pieces of cardboard which they
thrust against you; this prevents you from being able to see
your pockets. This happened to my boss in Bologna (he
wasn't drunk!) and I saw them carrying the cardboard in
Milan.
in "Overseas - the essential magazine for the overseas
traveller" (Ocotber 1998-March 1999) that women will throw
their baby at you, of course your automatic reaction is to
catch the baby and while you are saving the baby, they steal
your bag, wallet etc whatever that case may be. Good
magazine for tips on travelling.
I was trying to make a phone call at a public phone at a
busy intersection in Madrid. I was wearing a satchel type
bag which I had slung across my body. I reached into my bag
for all of the needed numbers and money then switched the
bag around so that it rested on my backside. I was
obviously discombobulated and had also taken the wrong
bundle of papers out of my bag. When I reached back into my
bag I felt a hand already in there. I spun around and a very
lanky, dark skined man said - oh, just waiting for phone -
then he took off. So did I.
I encountered worse experiences. 3 times I suffered the
scary and humiliating experience of looking up from my
reading or reverie to find a man staring at me, about 10
yards away, playing with his exposed erect penis. This
happened in Paris by the Seine, Madrid in a small park near
Bilbao and in a Madrid Subway station. The first two occured
in broad daylight.
I woke up one morning on an Indian train and just slipped
my "fanny bag" off for a moment and a man behind grapped my
bags through the bars of my sleeper and ran off with my
bag! Only my airline ticket was stolen but I still had to
report it to the train authorities inorder to obtain a new
one with the airlines. My brother and I sat in the train
station for hours and watched everyone in the office
prepare their chi and read the newspaper ... no one wanted
to take our story and fill out the required forms. So, my
brother and I prepared to sit for awhile until we got some
service! We pulled out our journals and starting writing. I
had just come from six months in Borneo so my journal was
crammed with drawings, articles, photos and writing ...
collaged. Pretty soon, everyone in the office was looking
over my shoulder trying to read my journal ... then the
sargent-in-charge requested my journal. He replaced his
newspaper with my journal and started flipping through the
pages, then he ordered chi for my brother and I. As he
continued to look at all the photos and drawings, he found
a form and some carbon paper. Two hours later, after much
chatting and answering of questions about my recent travels
we walked away from the office with the police file for my
stolen bag!
My Mother-in-Law came to visit us in Bolivia. After
strolling through the market she noticed that her shopping
bag was starting to leave a trail of vegetables. It had
been slashed by a razor blade in the bottom (where she had
left all of her money). She also discovered that her breast
pocket was devoid of money. It had a button which was still
buttoned when she discovered the missing money.
I spent a month in Italy last summer and couldn't believe
the nerve of the a guy who tried to pickpocket me. I was
getting onto a very busy bus and thought nothing of the
closeness of the other passengers until I felt someone's
hand in my pocket!! Luckily my pocket was empty as I had a
money belt, but even after making a huge fuss I still
failed in managing to shame the guy who just walked along
the bus and put his hand in someone elses pocket!
I did eventually have him chucked off the bus but what I
couldn't understand was that no one else seemed that
bothered by his behaviour!