Careful now in train stations even after security
 

Just a head's up. A close friend's elderly mother was robbed past security getting on the Euromed in Valencia going to Barcelona. A well dressed group of women came up to them and kept asking them where car 7 was.. pointing here and there and trying to engage them.. which they did.. unfortunately. When my friend's mother went to climb up onto the train she realized her purse had been stolen from her.

So now these thieves are getting tickets to get INTO the secure area and then mixing with the crowd that is leaving the station once they have robbed people.

Beware, all. When my friend arrived in Barcelona to also make them aware of the situation, and to reissue the stolen ticket, the office was full of foreigners that had been robbed at Sants station.

Unfortunately, when my friend tried to catch the train back to Valencia with the re-issued ticket, somehow it had been cancelled since the thieves were able to cash in the one they robbed ( in spite of having denounced the theft) and were given a refund, thus invalidating my friend's re-issued ticket. Another good reason to pay with a credit card instead of cash. The thieves could not have gotten a refund so easily, if the person had asked for an ID, if it had been purchased with a CC.

Sad story. I felt things had settled down a bit but it seems this is a never-ending story. Most upsetting to my friend and her mother was the lack of emotion and concern the authorities anywhere demonstrated.

Linda thank you for the warning. Terrible.

thanks for the heads up - Barcelona never seems to get any better but I would have thunk the train station and its anti-terrorist security mentality would be different.

Robert Reich, former Sec of Labor in the Clinton Minstration, was robbed of his brief case a few years back at Barcelona's Airport - right at the check-in counter - he had to return to the U S Consulate to get a new passport and a loan of funds.

It seems no place in Barcelona is safe, sadly. One thinks that with an onslaught of robberies in Sants train station some under cover cops posing as naive tourists might help - but one would think that nothing is being done at all.

Will be extra vigilant....I hate that this happens, it takes something away from the joy of traveling and sense of adventure, worse that it was an elderly person

My DH almost lost his wallet on the metro in Barcelona, and someone nicked my coffee off our table in Valencia, which I thought might be a diversionary tactic, but it turned out just to be a local nutter.

So sorry about your friend's mother, lin - they clearly spotted their target, didn't they?

as you say, we need to be vigilant.

She says there was hardly anyone around them.. only these three well dressed people who started jabbering with her mom and she was trying to be helpful. Never keep all your cash in ONE purse/ place. Spread it around.

Her purse was turned into the valencia station minus the 500E cash and 400 AUS$ cash. All CCs and passport and Ids were recovered.. just hours after it happened. The railway ticket was refunded to thieves 6 hours later. I am going to help write a claim on that because she told the ticket agent in Barcelona she had been ROBBED of the ticket, so I do not understand HOW they gave her simply a COPY of the ticket robbed when , as we now see, she was still out the money because they didn´t CANCEL that original ticket.

Oh.. and the station needs a court order for her to review the security cameras.

Oh.. and the station needs a court order for her to review the security cameras>>

don't the police do that? [though I'm not suggesting that the UK police would be any better, they'd probably do it, but after the tapes had been wiped!]

you would THINK so.. really discouraging, time consuming.. no wonder so few people BOTHER to report anything except to recoup on their insurance if they are lucky.

P.S. Many people may not be aware, but you cannot access the Euromed or AVE track area without a ticket.

What does "security" have to do with someone who is very skilled and uses their BARE HANDS to steal something from somebody?

I meant that this was in the "secure area" where only passengers can go after their ticket/ luggage have been scanned. Tickets on these trains are not cheap.. like metro or bus tickets.. this is the high speed AVE and Euromed track area. I would just not be as worried about thieves once in THERE, and might have my guard down.. just trying to make people aware. that's all.

Perhaps I haven't used the term correctly in the title.. I was referring to an AREA.. not a guard.

-One thinks that with an onslaught of robberies in Sants train station some under cover cops posing as naive tourists might help-

There are, at least on the train. I was just in Girona staying at a VRBO place with 2 apartments. In the other apartment, there was a woman from Louisiana - we got to talking. She told me that the day before when she arrived, she was on the train from the airport to Sants station, and someone pickpocketed her. She didn't even know, she was talking to a friend... there were some plainclothes cops on the train and they saw what happened and caught the thieves! So this woman had to go to the station and make a statement, and because she was carrying over 400 euros (I think that was the amount) the police were able to detain and prosecute the thieves.

I told her she was the luckiest victim I had ever heard about. And it does seem like the police are trying, at least in this case (though it was on the train and not in the station.)

Sorry to hear about your friend's mom Linda. :(

For once, a success story!

Hopefully it is a trend that will continue.

I can't believe the amounts of cash these women were carrying. That's what ATMs are for.

Some people are forced to carry around (too much) cash if they are paying for their apartment when they arrive, and it seems it's something theives are well aware of, putting the situation in there favor. Another good reason to keep away from such cash businesses.

As far as the elderly mother being robbed goes, carrying around cash was never that unusual in the past, we've all done it, but society has changed somewhat with the entrance of certain countries into the EU.

Thieves know when people are renting an apartment? Interesting.

I think it is just more that thieves see tourists and figure they have cash, regardless of if there is an apartment involved.

Why else would someone, a tourist, be packaing around a large amount of cash? To go shopping? Hardly.

So when "carrying around cash was never that unusual in the past, we've all done it" what were you doing? Renting an apartment I guess.

I guess this was the reality before you started "traveling" way back in '98. Before then, you could acutally walk down the street carrying a little cash and not worry too much about being accosted under normal circumstances, not even in Barcelona. Not so much today, which is why credit cards are so useful.

If the average traveler wants to rent an apartment through someone other than an origaziton like Spain Select or Paris/Italy/Londan Perfect, you have to pay in cash when you arrive. Not a great idea, especially when in places like Barcelona where the "thieves" seem to have the upper hand is some situations, but always a pain in others.

Linda , thank you for posting this and so sorry for your friend's mom. I can only imagine the stress. And you're right, in the past I find myself putting my guard down when I'm in a "secure" area of trains or airport. No more.
The advice to spread your money and CC's and not keep them in the same place is a sound one. I've been doing it for ages as many times I travel by myself and would hate to find myself alone and with no money!

I doubt if thieves think people are probably renting apts so have a lot of cash on them. I think they just know, which is apparent from various posts on Fodors, that some travelers for unknown reasons carry a lot of cash on them. I know we've seen other posts where Asians tend to do this, but didn't know Austrlians did. But occasionally we see posts from Americans talking about how they buy euro in the US and then carry thousands on them to Europe. I have no idea why, they insist it makes sense for them. And travelers are often not that careful and easily duped (especially foreign ones).

I always think about how sad it is when elderly people get robbed this way, as traveling can be enough trouble as it is, and to have people take advantage of age is despicable.

But I am surprised this somehow happened in security, you wonder how they got in. Can't believe they bought train tickets to do this.

Check Renfe.com. You can purchase a ticket on the Euromed from Valencia to Castello for under €14 one-way, which gets you through security and onto the platform. If the thieves are quick, as they apparently were, they can find their mark, do their deed, and walk out of the station with the passengers arriving from Alacante.

If you are going to carry hundreds of euro, for whatever reason, why would you not wear a money belt? I paid for my Budapest apartment last week with cash euros. I had acquired them in several transactions in Romania (cash lei from ATM, exchange for euro at a good rate at bureau de change), and you better believe they were stashed in my money belt until I was in the apartment. Ditto all but one day's cash and at most one credit card.

I agree about money belt.. too much cash, etc. I think this poor woman felt very safe next to her adult granddaughter and middle -aged daughter on an uncrowded platform.

I might add I was with her in Madrid on the metro a few years ago and some Eastern European nomadic girls tried to rob her then in front of me.. she caught one of their hands IN her bag and screamed as though she was being slaughtered. I couldn´t believe it. I had my eyes on a couple of the girls who seemed to be sizing her up in the car but did not see a THING.

Makes me wonder if the city of Barcelona or Spain for that matter, is doing anything to address the petty crime against tourists. I have heard of too many personal accounts of pick pocketing and theft as well read similar stories specifically occurring in Barcelona. This might, if not may have already deterred some potential tourists from visiting Barcelona. It's sad because it is such a beautiful place to visit and sad to see that it is getting the reputation which is not entirely unfounded.

Just for the records.. it happened in the Valencia station..but a second claim was presented with the help of a nice Spanish man in the Barcelona station.

takemewithyou: ditto to all you say. I think publicizing this rampant street crime is the thing to do - but it seems to fall on deaf ears in Barcelona officials - SHAME on Barcelona (and Madrid) for allowing seemingly unfettered street criminal activity targeting tourists who are easy marks.

Many years ago, I was a victim of purse snatching in Madrid. I was 2 steps away from getting in our rental car when somebody appeared from behind me, snatched my purse and sped away with an accomplice in a waiting motorcycle. My husband gave chase (not a smart thing, imo) to the thieves and was able to grab the snatcher by the arm. As the motorcyle sped away, my husband fell on the pavement, face down and ended up with bruises and superficial scratches to his face. Not much was in my purse, probably €100 and some credit cards. The damage was more psychological. That was the first time I experienced a crime, no matter petty, perpetrated upon me.

Since then, within our own circle of friends, family and acquaintances - I have heard of way too many stories of personal accounts of being victimized with the greatest frequency having occurred in Barcelona and Madrid.

I invited my friend for coffee and warned her of carrying all that cash. it seems she owed/ and also wanted to gift her daughter and granddaughter a lot of money that she wanted them to use on the trip but neither would take it from her unfortunately.

At least she got the purse, passport and all health cards, drivers license, etc.. back. The Australian embassy receptionist said she was the first person EVER to get their passport back that she had heard of.

<<If you are going to carry hundreds of euro, for whatever reason, why would you not wear a money belt?>>

Agree. I also have one of those that goes around the neck and can be tucked into pants when the cord is longer or kept inside shirt when it is short. One cc, passport, and most cash go in there.

I have paid for some classes and some mosaic supplies in cash; I get some out of the machine every day I am there and hand it over as soon as possible.

Loved Barcelona and hate that these issues continue. That said, only place I was robbed was Brussels with DH 20 feet away (gold chain and celtic cross had slipped out of my shirt where they are usually hidden).

Just returned from Madrid, Toledo,Seville and Barcelona, had no problems anywhere or ever felt threatened. We were in the Madrid and Barcelona airports, all the train stations and on La Rambla several times. Maybe just fortunate, but did not have anything of value not in a secure place, money belts. Sorry so many have had a problem.