leaving your passport in the safe.

Some countries you need to carry it,it's the law.

Do we have to tip the pickpocketer ?
I put dog poo in my pockets. If somebody get dirty hands I know he is a thief
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I do that with my stock broker and lawyer also.
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6. I have a sling bag for my DSLR, which does not look like a camera bag. I try not to look like a tourist. Try not to carry a paper map but use a mini pad or phone app for the maps.
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How do you disguise your DSLR? And good luck not looking like a tourist. Business people usually avoid the HOHO buses.

<i>Business people usually avoid the HOHO buses.</i>

oh snap

I bring along safety pins, and pin shut my pocket or bag-flap from underneath. It's easy and effective.

I put my wallet in my front pocket while traveling and it was pickpocketed on the tram in Istanbul.

I've found that not wearing any trousers increases my chances of avoiding pickpockets.

No trousers = no pockets to pick. It's so simple.

What really makes the pickpockets give me a wide berth is when I don't wear any pants either.

That's brilliant.

This it the most useful post I've seen on Fodors in a long time!

I don't worry about pickpockets. I have so much junk in my purse, it's impossible to find anything in it. I'm sure a pickpocket or a snatcher will toss it back at me in disgust.

Thank you Sparkchaser. Always useful to get some tips from locals! Though I'm a bit confused. I've done my research, and have based our holiday wardrobe around 'Rich Kids of Beverly Hills' and 'Keeping up with the Kardashians'. Are you saying that this is not appropriate for LA? We thought we'd blend in perfectly.

Tulips, You can keep your money where you want to.
The pickpocket will remember you for life for sure:)
These tips are for Europe or any cold region especially and not hot LA. People in LA anyways use more of plastic ( and Silicon :)

Jay, you are at a risk of either being asked to get out of the cab as the cabbie would keep wondering where you have kept your money or losing your balls:)

On a serious note it's not funny to get robbed while on a trip anywhere.
The wisdom comes from travelling more and to various countries and from ones own mistakes, observing others who make mistakes.
I have gone through most of them. ( My wife's purse with Passports, Pounds , phone and her diamond ring was stolen while 6 of us were dining at a posh Italian restaurant off Oxford Street, London)
Fodors forum gives it all on a platter.

One more thing learnt from Asian and a black street vendor in Barcelona and Italy while I was trying " Not to look like a tourist"

"Sir, you are trying to shield yourself from the browns and the blacks. But the pickpockets are white, mostly east European or Italian or any local person. you will not be able to distinguish them." ( No offence to any particular race or country)

No one loots at a gunpoint. They are scared of law.
They try to create chaos. They can sight a person with lot of hand luggage, maps who is a bit baffled. The confuse him/ her more.

I have seen an American being robbed in a crowded train while getting in at Cinque Terre. He had kept his money in a wallet in the haversack on his back. The worst thing is, that his wife said.. Oh god it has happened again, the same way :(

Anyways, i hope this thread helps those who need it. They can take what they like.
Others can take some gas and laughter.

Paragkash - it's not an issue, I just keep my money (usually coins of the smallest possible denomination) in a rugby sock, safety pinned to my sleeveless vest.

It also acts as a makeshift cosh in case any of the locals get the wrong idea about why I'm not wearing trousers.

It's a win-win!

I just want you to be safe, tulips.

<i>Thank you Sparkchaser. Always useful to get some tips from locals! Though I'm a bit confused. I've done my research, and have based our holiday wardrobe around 'Rich Kids of Beverly Hills' and 'Keeping up with the Kardashians'. Are you saying that this is not appropriate for LA? We thought we'd blend in perfectly.</i>

If you carry around a Whole Foods tote bag, it will send a definite signal that not only are you local but you are clearly upper middle-class material.

<<Sir, you are trying to shield yourself from the browns and the blacks. But the pickpockets are white, mostly east European or Italian or any local person. you will not be able to distinguish them." ( No offence to any particular race or country)>>

Rather strange thing for someone to say to you, out of the blue -- why did he presume you were trying to shield yourself from people of certain colors? Whatever gave him that idea?

In fact, pickpocketing is much more common in Europe than in the US. I don't know why, but it really is and I live in a big city in the US with a metro system. Sure it happens here but nothing like in sme of the big cities in Europe.

an elderly lady in my old hood was walking her dog when two boys on bikes stole her handbag. I would have loved seeing their face to see what their haul was. It was an old purse she used to put her dogs poo in.

Christina, this happened in Barcelona Spain, when I was a bit cautious about my belongings while speaking to a Pakistani street vendor. It must have been obvious. He told me about the Albenian gangs working in the city.

A similar thing happened at the Trevi fountain, Rome.

This things happen in many big cities. Barcelona, Amsterdam Station Road, Rome, Florence, Venice, London are common places.

I just narrated the conversation between a local vendor and me and he told me what he saw happening on the streets by some gangs of Albenian people. It isn't about a country but a certain gang that was operating at that time. This is obviously not a racist comment.
It just says that it can happen in big cities.

I am a woman and travel in slacks. I had a seamstress make simple pockets with a zipper at the top of each. They are tall and just large enough for my passport, euros, and credit cards, tickets/travel passes. Before leaving home I sew one in the INSIDE of the front waistband of each pair of slacks--black pockets for black slacks, skin color for other slacks so pockets don't show through the slacks fabric. As I wear tops out it is fairly easy and not too conspicuous to retrieve/ replace items. I keep small amounts of quick access cash on my purse--not a great loss if stolen.
The pockets are excellent for bus, train, plane when you don't have access to a hotel safe. My husband laughs at me, but we have never had pickpocket problems.

Paragkash
Just because they are so many Eastern European criminals throughout these tourist destination, doesn't make it right to say they are Albanian gangs or Romanians with mustaches and warts. It will give the average Forum reader the idea that Eastern European people have a criminal nature or worse not civilized.
And to quote a Pakistani? Please. Pakistanis think Eastern European peoples are out to pickpocket all of Palestine from the Palestinians