Travel experts - Tips for protecting passport and wallet from pickpockets

[Axel]

DON’T get a moneybelt. That will make you look like a tourist. Can you imagine a local wearing a money belt? No. Plus, they’re usually velcro, pretty easy to whip off. Read maps before you leave. After that, ask directions. London maps are hard to navigate and the other places you want to visit are small enough that if you get lost you’ll probably enjoy the detour.

Otherwise, keep your passport in the hotel - the cities you’re visiting are really very safe, and have laws and insurance regarding theiving chambermaids - and relax. Carry little, worry little. Would you worry about visiting picks name out of hat De Moines? It’s not different really.

Hope you enjoy your stay. The cities you’re planning to visit are beautiful. Worst come to the worst, you’re robbed and end up with a more amusing story to tell your friends.

Finally: if you want to, let London Dopers know when you’ll be around and a few of them will probably take you to the pub.

[Rick]

well if you really want to be sure, you buy some clothes from Tilley Endurables
Their clothes are kinda spendy, but they will last almost forever, and most come with “secret” pockets that would make picking them damn near impossible. I have one pair of their pants, and it has a velcro closure pocket inside one of the front pockets.
Anyway I admire a company that gives the following as washing instructions “Give em hell”

[Hometownboy]

Appreciate the continuing advice. So far it looks like:

Get a money belt/don’t get a money belt

Just put my wallet in my front pocket

Get a traveler’s pocket

Make extra copies of everything

Leave original passport in locked bag in hotel room, carry photocopy

No need to worry, the cities on the itenerary are safe

Watch out for cash machine scams

Have a seamstress sew a hidden pocket

Don’t carry a wallet at all

Make a decoy wallet

Do multiple things

Use a moneybelt/ No, they’re scratchy

Get a trucker’s wallet-on-a-chain

Only worry about London; other cities are safe

Don’t check wallet location when you see a “beware of pickpockets!” sign.

Beware of street urchins dancing., etc.

Should be fun.

[GorillaMan]

@Axel

Finally: if you want to, let London Dopers know when you’ll be around and a few of them will probably take you to the pub.

…whereupon your money will quickly find a very safe place, behind the bar…

[Shalmanese]

@Johnny Angel

Whiz Mob, which was recently back in print after some forty years. Maurer is most famous for what is still the essential study of confidence men, which formed the uncredited basis for the movie The Sting (there was a lawsuit about it). This is the most exhaustive and most scholarly study on pickpockets done even to this day, and on the basis of it, I’m telling you that the front pocket is not safe. Tighter is safer, if you’re wearing tight jeans or something, but a determined pickpocket can get even that without your notice.

When you are selected as a mark, it takes perhaps two minutes for the tool and the stalls to get into place so the tool can work while the stalls block everyone else’s view of what the tool is doing, and makes it so that any sudden move on the part of the sucker is blocked, not only physically, but psychologically – people in crowds instinctively behave in response to non-verbal cues given by the people around them, which cues pickpockets learn to deliver for the desired results.

“…the pickpocket receives and sends a constant set of signals to and from the victim by means of manual contact and bodily contact during the entire act of theft; some of these the victim responds to although he does not know their meaning; others he reacts to without being aware that he has recieved them. Likewise, a set of signals is constantly being exchanged by the mob members, some oral and verbal, some oral and nonverbal, some kinesic, some tactile, and some unconsciously sent or received.” (Maurer Whiz 75)

By the time you are suspicious enough to do something about it, you have already given away many unconsciously delivered cues that you are about to ‘rumble.’

Once the sucker is in the frame, it takes maybe five seconds to fan him – inventory all the places where he might be carrying cash – front and back pockets, and even the pit, a.k.a., the inside jacket pocket. The fact that the victim does not believe that someone could survey his person in this way is a great aid and comfort to pickpockets. Your mind ignores most of the information sent to it by the senses. You, yes you, are very easy to keep distracted, especially for thieves willing to let you see their faces, the risk of which is quite low for thieves picking on tourists.

That’s all very well and I’m sure there are pickpockets skilled enough to do that but maybe only 1% of the active pickpockets on the street are going to be that skillful. The vast majority are going to be plying their trade with easy pickings.

In fact, even if a pickpocket was skillful enough to do that, why would they bother when there are so many easier targets around. To avoid being pickpocketed, you don’t really have to be better than the best pickpocketer, you just have to be better than most of the “marks” walking around.

[Angua]

@GorillaMan

…whereupon your money will quickly find a very safe place, behind the bar…

Having first been converted into beer, of course.

But seriously, if you do fancy meeting up whilst you’re in London, let us know.

[MAGunter]

London won’t be nearly as bad about it as some other cities, but it will still exist.

The simple answer is to watch yourself and be aware.

The most common pickpocketing technique I remember from Paris was their hiding their hand under a newspaper they were “reading” to get access to your backpocket without view.

[Johnny_Angel]

Shalmanese wrote:

That’s all very well and I’m sure there are pickpockets skilled enough to do that but maybe only 1% of the active pickpockets on the street are going to be that skillful. The vast majority are going to be plying their trade with easy pickings.

In fact, even if a pickpocket was skillful enough to do that, why would they bother when there are so many easier targets around. To avoid being pickpocketed, you don’t really have to be better than the best pickpocketer, you just have to be better than most of the “marks” walking around.

On the one hand, you’re right that I am talking about the upper eschelon of the profession, though I would argue that it takes less skill than you think. If you’ve ever done any sleight-of-hand as a kid you’ve surely seen how easy it is to dazzle people with simple tricks. You don’t have to be a Ricky Jay – at the moment the spectator realizes that the three of diamonds he thought he was holding is actually a four of clubs, you can take the three of diamonds and put it in the guy’s pocket without his noticing. I’ve done it. When I was practicing, I never failed to accomplish it, and I was never very good at it. It really doesn’t take a master to manipulate a person’s awareness to a degree they just would not credit.

Having discussed what a skilled whiz mob can do while trying their damndest not to be noticed, my point is that an amateur mob that has the luxury of letting you see their faces, of looking you in the eye and talking to you directly, can do a lot more. And they have this luxury precisely because you’re a tourist. Furthermore, the higher-eschelon mobs would consider it a point of honor not to use such shortcuts as razor blades. But the more common mob won’t have such pride. Basically, you are more vulnerable to hamfisted pickpockets than to class cannons, and I think I’ve shown how effective the class cannon can be.

I agree that it’s best to be less of a target than the guy next to you. I have argued that devices such as chains and buttons aren’t much of a deterrent, nor is putting your money in front pockets, which seems to be a common misconception. All pockets are vulnerable, all security devices have work-arounds, and the extra risk they represent doesn’t add up as much as they’re purported to. The difficulty they seem to represent to a person who only thinks about pickpockets occasionally is very different from the difficulty they represent to a person who makes a living dealing with them every day. That is to say that adding measures of security to a wallet is not all that likely to make you seem like less of a mark, because they are not as flummoxing to a criminal as they seem to a square John citizen. A more reliable deterrent would be, as people have mentioned, to manage to look less wealthy, less touristy. Thieves know this game too, but what else can you do?

[clairobscur]

@Johnny Angel

A lot of you seem to think that pickpockets can’t or (according to ianzin) won’t or would have a lot of trouble taking something from a front pocket. Wrong on all counts.

I’m going to disagree. I know that some pickpockets are extremely skillfull, but not all of them are highly skilled “professionnal”, and they will go for the eay targets. So, a very simple precaution might deter a number of them.
Also, someone stated that the risk is very low. It might be true, but nevertheless depending on what exactly is stolen (passport, credit card, plane tickets…) it can be a major pain in the ass for a traveller if it happens, much more so than for a local (who, anyway, is much much less likely to be targeted for a variety of reasons).

[clairobscur]

@Axel

DON’T get a moneybelt. That will make you look like a tourist. .

He’s going to look like a tourist, anyway. He’ll probably be wearing some tourist attire rather that a jacket and tie, he will be roaming around tourist spots rather than around office blocks, he’ll be gawking at monuments rather than walk hastily past them because he’s late, he will be fumbling with a London map rather than reading a newspaper an so on…

[Johnny_Angel]

clairobscur wrote:

I’m going to disagree. I know that some pickpockets are extremely skillfull, but not all of them are highly skilled “professionnal”, and they will go for the eay targets. So, a very simple precaution might deter a number of them.

But as I have argued in response to Shalmanese, the amount of actual skill involved is not necessarily that great, and likewise the degree of deterrent a precaution like choosing a front pocket is also not that great. That would mostly discourage junkies and opportunists. The warnings about pickpockets for people traveling abroad are not about junkies and petty opportunists. They are about organized gangs for whom a little thing like keeping your cash in your front pocket is trivial. You are talking about setting mouse traps to protect you from tigers.

[Shalmanese]

@Johnny Angel

But as I have argued in response to Shalmanese, the amount of actual skill involved is not necessarily that great, and likewise the degree of deterrent a precaution like choosing a front pocket is also not that great. That would mostly discourage junkies and opportunists. The warnings about pickpockets for people traveling abroad are not about junkies and petty opportunists. They are about organized gangs for whom a little thing like keeping your cash in your front pocket is trivial. You are talking about setting mouse traps to protect you from tigers.

Okay, lets assume your a pickpocket extraordinare level 13 bad mutherfucka. Your still pickpocketing for the money, not the art of it. On an average day, standing on a street corner in london, you might see well over 10,000 potential marks walk through. If picking a back pocket has a 0.1% chance of getting caught and picking a front pocket has a 0.2% chance of getting caught, why would you ever pick a front pocket?

Your so spoilt for choice that you would naturally gravitate towards the easiest of marks. So even trivial protections would be highly effective.

[jawdirk]

@Shalmanese

So even trivial protections would be highly effective.

Right. But all you have to do for iron-clad protection is just keep your hand on your wallet when you are in a crowded area.

Pickpocketing is exponentially easier in a crowded area – there is no reason to ever pickpocket out of a crowded area.

So if you keep your hand on your wallet when you are in a crowded area, you are extremely unlikely to be pickpocketed.

Also, when carrying a backpack in a crowded area, wear it on your chest, not your back.

[Princhester]

@Johnny Angel

I think I’ve shown how effective the class cannon can be.

Not really: frankly, you’ve just talked a lot. Your major cite is a study of language. A bunch of cons talked up a storm to a researcher into language, and no doubt they were not exactly downplaying how great they were. The research was not into whether these cons were actually capable of doing, or much did, what they said. No doubt they could to some degree.

We’ve seen precious little by way of any data that the stuff you talk about actually happens, or happens much, or happens now, or happens in the place the OP is going.

[Hometownboy]

@Angua

Having first been converted into beer, of course.

But seriously, if you do fancy meeting up whilst you’re in London, let us know.

Thank you. I would be delighted. While not a bigtime Dopermaven™ superposter, I’ve been I’ve been on the boards for a while and learned a great deal. The few times I’ve been to small Portland, Oregon-area dopefests have been extremely pleasant. If you wouldn’t mind joining me (middleaged, pudgy science fiction fan and newspaper editor) and Mrs. Home (also middleaged, slender dressage-riding PhD medical researcher) for a pint or three, perhaps we can exchange some transAtlantic culture.

[Hometownboy]

@clairobscur

He’s going to look like a tourist, anyway. He’ll probably be wearing some tourist attire rather that a jacket and tie, he will be roaming around tourist spots rather than around office blocks, he’ll be gawking at monuments rather than walk hastily past them because he’s late, he will be fumbling with a London map rather than reading a newspaper an so on…

Actually, that’s the way I behave at home as well, but the pickpockets won’t know that…
Renewed thanks to all participants. This has turned into discussion fascinating on its own, even if I weren’t making the trip.

By the way, I’m not going to let any stinking, cowardly bombers frighten me away from this vacation. I’m voting with my (shrinking) dollars on this one.

[Johnny_Angel]

Shalmanese wrote:

If picking a back pocket has a 0.1% chance of getting caught and picking a front pocket has a 0.2% chance of getting caught, why would you ever pick a front pocket?

Because you think the 0.2% greater risk will net you 0.3% higher profit.

Princhester wrote:

Not really: frankly, you’ve just talked a lot. Your major cite is a study of language.

I’ll stack my language study against mere speculation any day. And it’s not just a language study, it’s a landmark text in both sociolinguistics and criminology.

A bunch of cons talked up a storm to a researcher into language, and no doubt they were not exactly downplaying how great they were.

Maurer spent decades making contacts in the criminal underworld, building their trust, observing their behavior, cross-checking what they told him with other pickpockets, other classes of criminals and police. He didn’t come to be regarded as the father of American sociolinguistics by not realizing somebody might be bullshitting him. He is legendary not only for his thoroughness, but for his methodology of checking and cross-checking.

The criminologist James A. Inciardi, who is himself a major figure in his field, employs similar methodology in his own study of class cannons. If you’re interested in learning about the methodology that you dismiss unseen, it is discussed in some detail in Allan W. Futrell’s introduction to Maurer’s Language of the Underworld, including how Maurer picked his informants by how good other people said they were first and foremost, then researched their backgrounds before approaching them, then checked what they said by consulting with other informants, and even imersing himself in their lives and their culture short of participating in actual crimes.

The research was not into whether these cons were actually capable of doing, or much did, what they said. No doubt they could to some degree.

This was not just a study of language. He didn’t compile a vocabulary list, which is all criminal lexicographers before him had done. He studied the culture and technology of pickpockets from top to bottom so that their professional vocabulary was thoroughly contextualized. He didn’t even provide a glossary in Whiz Mob where you could just look up what a word was supposed to mean, he instead provided a word finder where you could look in the text to find the word used in context.

Second only to Sutherland’s The Professional Thief, Maurer’s works are the classic studies upon which the classic studies that came after him were built – Polsky, Letkemann, Klockars, Shover.

This is it. There is no better information on pickpockets available to anybody who isn’t a pickpocket.

Again, all I’m saying is that trying to be a challenging mark is not going to be nearly as effective a deterrent as looking like you haven’t got enough money to be worth robbing.

[Angua]

@Hometownboy

Thank you. I would be delighted. While not a bigtime Dopermaven™ superposter, I’ve been I’ve been on the boards for a while and learned a great deal. The few times I’ve been to small Portland, Oregon-area dopefests have been extremely pleasant. If you wouldn’t mind joining me (middleaged, pudgy science fiction fan and newspaper editor) and Mrs. Home (also middleaged, slender dressage-riding PhD medical researcher) for a pint or three, perhaps we can exchange some transAtlantic culture.

That sounds like A Plan. You should post a thread on NADS, where most of the BritDopers hang out on a regular basis, closer to the time you’re going to be in London, and something will be arranged, fairly rapidly, knowing them.

[Shalmanese]

@Johnny Angel

Shalmanese wrote:

Because you think the 0.2% greater risk will net you 0.3% higher profit.

Actually, you would need twice the profit to make it worthwhile. With a 0.1% risk, you get caught once every 1000 steals. With a 0.2% risk, you get caught every 500 steals so you would need to do twice as much per steal to make it worthwhile.

[Fromage_A_Trois]

@Hometownboy

… for a pint or three, perhaps we can exchange some transAtlantic culture.

Oh, you’ve got culture over there now have you?
Kidding!