# World's Top 10 Worst Cities for Pickpockets **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 9, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160 "2009-10-09T04:18:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/62 "2011-02-01T19:38:17Z")
Prague is accurate - esp. on the #22 and #9 trams. I’ve lived in Prague off and on for 9 years and see this all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/63 "2011-02-01T19:40:14Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > My friend had her wallet pickpocketed in Paris. However, the police later recovered her driver’s license and passport so she didn’t have to delay returning home. Coincidence or are the police well-networked so that they don’t have to deal with stranded tourists? Not as well networked as in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia where a friend whose car was stolen went to the police and was given the phone number of the people who stole his car and said he’d have to contact them to sort it out. I lived there in 2002/03 - crazy place. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/64 "2011-02-02T17:06:17Z")
Seems to me that the solution is to buy a very cheap wallet Then buy a pack of straight razors in the hardware store. Tape a razor blade into the wallet so the fuckwad who slips his/her fingers into your pocket looking to rob you comes away with a badly cut hand. Fair is fair. You’re gonna mess with me? I’m gonna mess with you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/65 "2011-02-02T17:21:11Z")
I kinda wonder what the various Euro legislations have to say about that strategy. Assault charges might be on the menu, and the real wallet ends up emptied anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/66 "2011-02-02T17:31:51Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Seems to me that the solution is to buy a very cheap wallet Then buy a pack of straight razors in the hardware store. Tape a razor blade into the wallet so the fuckwad who slips his/her fingers into your pocket looking to rob you comes away with a badly cut hand. > > Fair is fair. You’re gonna mess with me? I’m gonna mess with you. > > 🙂 I can envision myself slicing up my own ass that way. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/67 "2011-02-02T18:01:42Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > I kinda wonder what the various Euro legislations have to say about that strategy. Assault charges might be on the menu, and the real wallet ends up emptied anyway. I seriously doubt that, unless their laws are far more radically different from ours than I realize. While I find it remotely plausible that booby trap laws could apply to your own body (to protect rescue workers), I’m pretty sure “I’m a cutter” or “I’m into razor blades for fashion purposes” would be an effective defense. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/68 "2011-02-03T06:55:12Z")
Now that this thread has been revived, I remember that I was almost nearly robbed in Rome. I was hanging out with some guy who was in the US Army whose job was to play tennis. I was young and on the $15 a day travel budget (1980). We were sleeping on a ledge outside the Roma Termini train station. Some time during the night I felt someone tugging at my backpack and managed to scare them off. My poor buddy was not so light a sleeper and got his tennis racket stolen. Whoops, I was robbed in Saigon and not Hanoi. That said, I’m sure Saigon is in the top 50. ---
**Author:** ![Walther\_Ego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Walther\_Ego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walther_Ego)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160/69 "2011-02-03T07:00:26Z")
The targets are normally tourists. I’ve visited several of these cities and lost a wallet once. I also lived in one for years and had no attempts. Once when I had visitors, they were pick-pocketed almost immediately. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-top-10-worst-cities-for-pickpockets/513160.md?page=3)