# Are there still pickpockets? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595 "2016-08-03T00:13:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/1 "2016-08-03T00:13:48Z")
Whenever I’m traveling in a large city, I transfer my wallet to my front pocket from its usual place in my back pocket. Am I just showing my age here? Is this type of thievery a lost art? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/2 "2016-08-03T00:15:12Z")
Not in Barcelona, it isn’t. I speak from experience. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/3 "2016-08-03T00:48:06Z")
They are omnipresent everywhere there are crowds of tourists, all over Europe. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/4 "2016-08-03T00:53:49Z")
It’s still very common in many places in the world. I think it’s just less common in the US because our mixed populous makes it harder to pick out the foriegers who make better targets and are easier to victimize. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/5 "2016-08-03T03:27:37Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > Whenever I’m traveling in a large city, I transfer my wallet to my front pocket from its usual place in my back pocket. My wallet was stolen shortly after my arrival in the Madrid airport. It was in my zippered front pocket. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/6 "2016-08-03T03:58:53Z")
They are still active in the US but more selective in location and timing. Something big like a parade draws them out in good numbers and some of the places still thin on security cameras have issues. But any who try working something like a mall or casino today are on the news by 11. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/7 "2016-08-03T05:29:46Z")
Do they get much out of it? I mean, the last time I carried cash was um, well I can’t remember. So they’d have to try to use the credit cards, and my various card issuers are pretty sophisticated about catching people almost immediately when they try to run up fraudulent charges on stolen credit card numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/8 "2016-08-03T05:38:42Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > My wallet was stolen shortly after my arrival in the Madrid airport. It was in my zippered front pocket. How did that happen? Pickpockets, I would guess, look for easy opportunities. Hearing that people have had their pockets picked recently tells me that the pickpockets have encountered those opportunities. But from a zippered front pocket? Wow, that is some skill. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/9 "2016-08-03T11:48:29Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > Do they get much out of it? I mean, the last time I carried cash was um, well I can’t remember. So they’d have to try to use the credit cards, and my various card issuers are pretty sophisticated about catching people almost immediately when they try to run up fraudulent charges on stolen credit card numbers. Nowadays half of them are stealing cell phones which get resold overseas. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/10 "2016-08-03T15:59:02Z")
On a bus in Mexico City: Bus was standing room only but not particularly crowded as Mexican buses go. Several people started crowding me, pressing up against me, and I felt a hand wiggling into my front pants pocket. I started yelling and four guys backed away; they got off at the next stop. A friend had his back pocket slashed with a razor (or very sharp knife) and his wallet taken in San Jose, Costa Rica ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/11 "2016-08-03T18:02:36Z")
I’ve seen it happen on a subway in NY and outside of baggage claim at Seattle’s airport. It does happen in the U.S., but in both cases it was more of a loud distraction and a grab than a finesse move of Apollo Robins or the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Disgscen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Disgscen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgscen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/12 "2016-08-04T18:14:53Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > Whenever I’m traveling in a large city, I transfer my wallet to my front pocket from its usual place in my back pocket. Am I just showing my age here? Is this type of thievery a lost art? As long as there are people whose usual place to keep valuables is a back pocket, there will be pickpockets. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/13 "2016-08-04T18:27:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > My wallet was stolen shortly after my arrival in the Madrid airport. It was in my zippered front pocket. Thankfully I was never in a big crowd at the Madrid airport. While I was there I also kept my hands _inside_ my pockets when possible. When I went to downtown Madrid, I thankfully also did not hit large crowds except in the Hieronymus Bosch exhibit in the Prado. While in downtown Madrid, I kept my wallet in the zipped inside pocket of a raincoat which was also _usually_ zipped. It also wasn’t raining and the combo with shorts made me look like a total tourist. I still wonder if pickpockets would have been able to get to the inside pocket if I had been in crowds with a partially zipped raincoat. (They wouldn’t have been able to get it when it was _totally_ zipped as they aren’t magic, but I thought that a little ventilation was worth the risk.) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/14 "2016-08-05T03:12:48Z")
Here’s a recent video (in German) about pickpocketing in Germany. The number “170,000” and (AFAICT) “51 million Euros” are displayed around the middle of the video, but since I don’t speak German, I really don’t know the exact context. > **[Urlaubszeit: Mit diesen Tricks vermiesen Sie Taschendieben die Tour - Video -...](https://www.welt.de/finanzen/verbraucher/video157459689/Mit-diesen-Tricks-vermiesen-Sie-Taschendieben-die-Tour.html)** > > Sommerurlaub - die schönste Zeit des Jahres. Das gilt nicht nur für Reisende, sondern auch für Taschendiebe. Reporterin Eva Nusshart hat den Test gemacht und zeigt, wie Sie sich schützen können. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/15 "2016-08-05T03:33:49Z")
Why is pickpocketing so common in Europe versus the U.S.? Granted it can happen anywhere but I never worry about pickpocketing the U.S. and it seems endemic to much of Europe (at least the touristy parts). I don’t mean to be politically incorrect but, of all my time spent in European countries, it seemed to be the Roma people (Gypsies) that were running the vast majority of those types of scams. I tried to drop tackle one in Venice, Italy when he made a run for another person’s luggage straight off the water shuttle. I narrowly missed him but he knew I was was serious and turned tail and ran without getting anything yet he was back running the same scam 20 minutes later. The police did nothing even after we reported it. That wasn’t the only one however. I had the same types of people try to do it on mass transit, tourist attractions and even inside of expensive restaurants under the guise of selling flowers. That type of thing would not fly in the U.S. At the very least, the people doing it would not be allowed into the restaurants in the first place. The medium level is that they would be arrested for trespassing and theft and have to spend some time in jail for it. At the worst, they would be shot by someone carrying a concealed weapon. Why does Western Europe in general have such a lax attitude towards theft? Stealing someone’s passport, credit cards, cash and other worldly possessions when they are thousands of miles away from home is a very serious offense in my estimation. Why don’t the authorities take it much more seriously especially because the vast majority are habitual offenders? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-pickpockets/761595/16 "2016-08-06T22:58:57Z")
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