Pickpockets and petty theft in London
Sep 18th, 2010, 11:28 AM
#1
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Pickpockets and petty theft in London
Hello all,
Just got back from London. My husband's iphone was stolen from the Long Acre Restaurant in Leicester square. We had a table outside and a guy came asking for money (the second one I might add) and trying to sell us a magazine. While extending the magazine towards us on the table, he managed to swipe the mobile without us noticing. By the time we started missing it, he was long gone. The restaurant, that has a bouncer, said that this is common and happened before. The police was cruising the area and my husband gave them the exact description of the guy and they pretty much did nothing.
Two days later, my wallet was picked from the outside zipper of my backpack which I was holding over my shoulder. This was in Oxford street during my shopping spree around noon.
This is like my tenth visit to London, and I have been to Europe numerous times and have never encountered this before.
Please be careful and guard your belongings very vigilantly.
Just got back from London. My husband's iphone was stolen from the Long Acre Restaurant in Leicester square. We had a table outside and a guy came asking for money (the second one I might add) and trying to sell us a magazine. While extending the magazine towards us on the table, he managed to swipe the mobile without us noticing. By the time we started missing it, he was long gone. The restaurant, that has a bouncer, said that this is common and happened before. The police was cruising the area and my husband gave them the exact description of the guy and they pretty much did nothing.
Two days later, my wallet was picked from the outside zipper of my backpack which I was holding over my shoulder. This was in Oxford street during my shopping spree around noon.
This is like my tenth visit to London, and I have been to Europe numerous times and have never encountered this before.
Please be careful and guard your belongings very vigilantly.
Sep 18th, 2010, 11:45 AM
#3
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<i>my wallet was picked from the outside zipper of my backpack</i>. I am lol for sure. What in the world is your wallet doing in your backpack, much less the outside pocket?
<i>have never encountered this before.</i> That is standard.
<i>have never encountered this before.</i> That is standard.
Sep 18th, 2010, 11:53 AM
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1) here in SF people steal iphones off tables in cafes. NOt just london.
2) Ditto on the outside pocket of a backpack.
best advice I ever gt was in Spain - carry a purse that does NOT drape over your shoulder if it has a long strap, still hold the PURSE as you travel, eat etc. I may look a bit strange but i ALWAYS keep my purse on my lap when traveling and I don't carry a backpack.
DON'T be a target!
2) Ditto on the outside pocket of a backpack.
best advice I ever gt was in Spain - carry a purse that does NOT drape over your shoulder if it has a long strap, still hold the PURSE as you travel, eat etc. I may look a bit strange but i ALWAYS keep my purse on my lap when traveling and I don't carry a backpack.
DON'T be a target!
Sep 18th, 2010, 11:53 AM
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I'm sorry for your misfortune and by posting this you might be helping someone else avoid the same situation. I know this advice comes too late but it doesn't matter where you are in the world, if you carry your wallet in the outside zipper of a backpack you are much more likely to be robbed. Thank you for the reminder that we must be cautious with our belongings whether we are traveling or just going around our home city.
Sep 18th, 2010, 12:12 PM
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These posts may be useful for people who are careless with their things, you just can't be laying your cellphone around in public on a table on the street, I'd say.
To be honest, I really don't know what the police could have done about a theft that had occurred earlier, and the thief was long gone, as you said. What could you possibly think they should do?
To be honest, I really don't know what the police could have done about a theft that had occurred earlier, and the thief was long gone, as you said. What could you possibly think they should do?
Sep 18th, 2010, 01:09 PM
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Christina, since my husband as well as the restaurant's bodyguard described the man very specifically, the police could at least run it down their database and see if he is a repeat offender or has priors!
We are not careless people, we have been travelling for years and have never been mugged before. The advice about not keeping my wallet at the outside zipper is well taken but I did post this to warn people and possibly prevent someone else from losing their belongings.
We are not careless people, we have been travelling for years and have never been mugged before. The advice about not keeping my wallet at the outside zipper is well taken but I did post this to warn people and possibly prevent someone else from losing their belongings.
Sep 18th, 2010, 02:30 PM
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<i>the police could at least run it down their database and see if he is a repeat offender or has priors!</i>
So you expect the police to round up the usual suspects? They have not arrested anybody since Napoleon was buried.
Having someone lift an enticing cell phone from your table can not be called mugging. Mugging hardly exists in Europe. It was a slick trick of picking something that should have been in his pocket. But he had it displayed. Why? The beauty of it is, as you discovered, is that he didn't know it was stolen until well after the fact. Would you prefer a genuine mugging with bloody nose and broken arm?
So you expect the police to round up the usual suspects? They have not arrested anybody since Napoleon was buried.
Having someone lift an enticing cell phone from your table can not be called mugging. Mugging hardly exists in Europe. It was a slick trick of picking something that should have been in his pocket. But he had it displayed. Why? The beauty of it is, as you discovered, is that he didn't know it was stolen until well after the fact. Would you prefer a genuine mugging with bloody nose and broken arm?
Sep 18th, 2010, 04:10 PM
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Years ago in an open-air restaurant in New Orleans, a waiter hurried over to our table to tell my husband not to leave his camera lying on the sidewalk side of the table. Guess we all have to live and learn. We hadn't given it a thought.
Sep 18th, 2010, 04:48 PM
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A couple of recommendations:
Never leave anything of value on the table (even indoors- never mind outdoors)
Carying a backpack onyour shuolder behind you is asking to hae it rifled.You shuold always have your day pack in front of you so you can see it.
Sorry - these things happen all te time when you;re careless.
(A friend of mine was in Paris last weekend to celbrate a big birthday with friends and they went out for a big -and long night. By about 4 am they were in a bar with a few other patrons, and had had several drinks. Someone pointed out the sun was rising and she went outside to look - came back in a couple of minutes and of course her purse had been taken from the bar. She was furious with herself for 1) being so careless and 2) not having had less to drink. Luckily they found it outside the back door with just the cash gone - she was amazed they receovered anyting at all.
Her attitude - this is what happens when you stop paying attention. And it could be anywhere in the world. You just need to be more careful with your valuables.
Never leave anything of value on the table (even indoors- never mind outdoors)
Carying a backpack onyour shuolder behind you is asking to hae it rifled.You shuold always have your day pack in front of you so you can see it.
Sorry - these things happen all te time when you;re careless.
(A friend of mine was in Paris last weekend to celbrate a big birthday with friends and they went out for a big -and long night. By about 4 am they were in a bar with a few other patrons, and had had several drinks. Someone pointed out the sun was rising and she went outside to look - came back in a couple of minutes and of course her purse had been taken from the bar. She was furious with herself for 1) being so careless and 2) not having had less to drink. Luckily they found it outside the back door with just the cash gone - she was amazed they receovered anyting at all.
Her attitude - this is what happens when you stop paying attention. And it could be anywhere in the world. You just need to be more careful with your valuables.
Sep 18th, 2010, 04:52 PM
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Sorry = one further note.
The overall world economy is awful.
This isn;t to suggest that hones peoplebecome thieves. But to point out that thieves may be getting less with each haul and are therefore more active.
The overall world economy is awful.
This isn;t to suggest that hones peoplebecome thieves. But to point out that thieves may be getting less with each haul and are therefore more active.
Sep 18th, 2010, 05:02 PM
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re
re: sorry = one further note.
The overall world economy is awful.
This isn't to suggest that hones people become thieves. But to point out that thieves may be getting less with each haul and are therefore more active.
__________
for once i agree w/ nytraveler./.the economy is definitely affecting petty theft even here in the US.
re: sorry = one further note.
The overall world economy is awful.
This isn't to suggest that hones people become thieves. But to point out that thieves may be getting less with each haul and are therefore more active.
__________
for once i agree w/ nytraveler./.the economy is definitely affecting petty theft even here in the US.
Sep 20th, 2010, 01:20 AM
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Sorry to hear about this, and I hope it hasn't spoilt your holiday too much. Oxford Street is notorious as very busy, very crowded, everyone there with spending money.... a good reminder that it's easy to get a bit complaicent.
But I'd like to comment on this:
"Thanks for the warning. I recall seeing people selling magazines by that area."
The people you see selling magazines on the street - The Big Issue - are nothing to do with this theft, so please don't start thinking the vendors are thieves or conmen or anything. The Big Issue is a charitable organisation that sets homeless people up with an income through buying and selling this mag. There are very strict rules and vendors all have ID badges, a regular pitch and a good relationship with locals. They don't just wander round randomly. Whoever this thief was must have got one copy of the mag and was using it as a distraction. There's no need for a warning about Big Issue vendors.
But I'd like to comment on this:
"Thanks for the warning. I recall seeing people selling magazines by that area."
The people you see selling magazines on the street - The Big Issue - are nothing to do with this theft, so please don't start thinking the vendors are thieves or conmen or anything. The Big Issue is a charitable organisation that sets homeless people up with an income through buying and selling this mag. There are very strict rules and vendors all have ID badges, a regular pitch and a good relationship with locals. They don't just wander round randomly. Whoever this thief was must have got one copy of the mag and was using it as a distraction. There's no need for a warning about Big Issue vendors.
Sep 20th, 2010, 02:02 AM
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<<< Whoever this thief was must have got one copy of the mag and was using it as a distraction. >>>
Assuming it was even The Big Issue. It could have been any mag.
In any case no evidence has been presented that it was the magazine seller who committed the crime. That's an assumption by the OP and the "bodyguard". It could have been the first beggar or someone else totally
Assuming it was even The Big Issue. It could have been any mag.
In any case no evidence has been presented that it was the magazine seller who committed the crime. That's an assumption by the OP and the "bodyguard". It could have been the first beggar or someone else totally
Sep 20th, 2010, 02:14 AM
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I was in a uni library about a year ago when a very distressed student came to the desk to report his iphone stollen. He was very angry both at himself for leaving the phone in plain view and with the thief.
He went off to find a pay phone to call his parents and while he was away a very nice young woman came up to the desk and said "I'ven just found this by the computers, someone must have lost it" yes it was his iphone.
SOrry OP, the fact you have not encount3ered this is luck, who puts very expensive electrical equipment on an outside table?
He went off to find a pay phone to call his parents and while he was away a very nice young woman came up to the desk and said "I'ven just found this by the computers, someone must have lost it" yes it was his iphone.
SOrry OP, the fact you have not encount3ered this is luck, who puts very expensive electrical equipment on an outside table?
Sep 20th, 2010, 02:37 AM
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I had a similar thing happen to me in Lisbon last year. I was expecting a phone call so my iPhone was on the table. My friend and I were eating at a little cafe on a quiet street. A young boy came up and started shoving a sign at me and begging for money. He managed to get the phone without me even noticing. The funny part is that instead of running way, he then went and begged at several other tables at the restaurant. By the time I noticed he was long gone.
Even though it was obviously his fault for stealing it, I was very careless to have left it out on the table. This certainly didn't diminish my impression of Lisbon, however, it is a reminder to be vigilant about your stuff! I had to report it to the police in order to make in insurance claim...not the most fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon while you're on holiday!
Even though it was obviously his fault for stealing it, I was very careless to have left it out on the table. This certainly didn't diminish my impression of Lisbon, however, it is a reminder to be vigilant about your stuff! I had to report it to the police in order to make in insurance claim...not the most fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon while you're on holiday!
