Share your pickpocketing stories!
 

So it happened--I was robbed on our recent trip to Spain. This was my fifth trip to Europe and I live in a big city (Chicago), so I consider myself pretty aware! But no one's immune, I suppose.

My husband and I were in Barcelona, walking back to our hotel after dinner on Sunday night. It was around 10:30 p.m. We were a block from our hotel in a nice residential neighborhood just east of the Placa de Catalunya. I was carrying a small purse under my arm, containing our camera, my driver's license, my credit card, my debit card, and around 80 euro. I carelessly took the purse from under my shoulder and began carrying it in my hand, holding onto the straps. A few minutes later, we heard the roar of a moped, and a guy drove onto the sidewalk and snatched it away. It all happened in an instant--one second I had my purse, the next I didn't, and the guy was gone.

The whole thing was witnessed by a guy walking his dog, who seemed shocked that this had happened in his neighborhood, but I know that Barcelona has a big problem with this sort of thing. If I'd been wearing a moneybelt, my cards and cash would've been safe, but the biggest, most upsetting and costly loss was our camera.

I'm just grateful that (1) my passport was in the hotel safe, (2) it was only the second day of our trip, so we didn't lose many photos, and (3) we were in a big city and easily bought a new camera at El Corte Ingles the next day.

Misery loves company, so if you want to share your stories, I'm all ears! And maybe they'll help other people avoid the same fate. It's a really traumatic thing to have happen during a vacation, that's for sure.

Forgot to mention... I'm also glad that I'd written down my credit card numbers on a sheet of paper and kept them in my suitcase. It made cancelling the cards much easier! But one thing I learned is that you can't dial 1-800 numbers from Spanish public phones. I had to go into an Internet cafe and access my credit card websites to get alternate numbers to call. Again, glad I was in a big city with a 24-hour Internet cafe around the corner from our hotel!

The fact that this type of thing is rife in both Madrid and Barcelona and has been for years and the local authorities don't do much about it apparently should be a scandal. A few rich-looking careless undercover cops dressed as such would put an end to it it seems. Only until it hurts tourism will they act i guess so BRAVO to you for bringing home the problem.

I know this is the europe forum and I did not have a bad experience in England, France and Italy, but my story happened in the Beijing airport. I lived there in the last century for 10 years so I consider myself pretty aware too. In 2004 after I checked my luggage, I went to get a snack and a bottle of water. When I put my wallet back in my purse, I forgot to zip it up and slung it over my shoulder while finishing my snack/water. Dirty fingers picked the wallet out of my purse! It didn't have my passport but some cash and 2 credit cards which were a pain to cancel since I only had a local cell phone. I did walk over to the airport police office to file a report so they are aware of it. Try to get over it fast and don't let it ruin your vacation.

Obviously it is just as, if not more, effective if the potential victims take the necessary preventive precautions than expecting any police force anywhere to be in as many of these "episodic" locations where your sort of theft occurred.

It can happen to the most experienced people because these people are very good at what they do and sometimes, unfortunately, our own feelings of preparedness are based on false assumptions.

It's hard to guess how the police could help... unless we'd been able to get a moped license number, there was no way our guy could've been caught (unless a car followed him, maybe).

Ours happened in Paris on the Metro on CHRISTMAS EVE! A man dropped a key on the floor of the floor and backed himself into my boyfriend's brother. This motion knocked him into a man behind him, who promptly lifted his wallet. Both men ran of the metro as the doors were closing. We realized right away what had happened, but obviously the two men were gone by the time we went back to the stop. My boyfriend saw two different men attempt the same scam on a different morning while he was on the way to work.

As much as I'd like to think we're savvy NYers, guess not! It was winter, so after this incident, I started keeping my belongings inside my coat pockets and not carrying a purse at all. My boyfriend also started zipping up his wallet inside his coat pocket.

I am not a victim YET, but when I call my credit card company to let them know where I will be, they always insist on me writing down the local phone number for their bank, just in case...

Probably too many people call to cancel their credit cards.

It's also a good idea to make copies of BOTH SIDES of all cards as the phone number is usually on the back, but I think it will apply to domestic travels only.

Never pickpocketed in Europe but have been here at home in NYC. 24 years ago, very pregnant, on the escalator at Macy's 34th Street. My wallet, sans cash, was found the following day in their furniture department.

Have been pickpocketed twice.

1. Paris -- jostled getting on the metro in a crowd. (Empty wallet reappeared 2 months later at the Paris lost-and-found office)
2. Saigon -- jostled in a market crowd, including a bicycle. (Empty wallet reappeared on the sidewalk within one minute.)

The day before our family of four was leaving from Barcelona on a 14 day med cruise, we were sight-seeing near la Sagrada Familia. My dad had his shoulder bag with him, wrapped around the front of his body with one side exposed. He had our cruise tickets and passports in the bag (on the side against his body) and on the other side there was only a satellite planner containing some of his work credit cards, phone numbers, etc. All of a sudden we were in a crowd of people and moments later he looked down at the bag after feeling like he'd been bumped. Someone had reached into the flap (apparently not closed or zipped -- I can only vaguely recall what the bag looked like) and took the planner. Thankfully our tickets and passports were safe. It was a great wake-up call to be MUCH more aware of our bags and that everything is ALWAYS zipped. Scary.

My sister was mugged in the Paris metro while traveling with two others a few years back. One of the muggers used pepper spray to spray the man they were traveling with. My sister ran off to the nearest building for help while the other girl beat off the muggers with her purse (one chose flight, the other fight!) The purse beating took them by such surprise that they ran off with nothing.

I was at the Prague train station walking trying to find my platform when I was surrounded.

I had my backpack on and they were trying get me to lose my balance, but being a new yorker I dropped my bag and started swinging my tripod and said bring it on.

They gave up and I went on my way.

One evening this past May in Venice, looking in a shop window near the Rialto Bridge, I felt jostled by two young men. I was immediately aware of it, and checked my small purse, which was on my shoulder, securely under my arm. Sure enough, the top of my purse was unzipped, though. I was amazed anyone could work that quickly, and was thankful I’d been paying attention. I looked over and there were two older teen boys standing a few feet from me, just looking at me innnocently. One more ‘jostle’ and the youths would have had my wallet out of my purse, I’m sure. I was carrying a fair amount of cash, plus my credit card and two ATM cards in that wallet, so it would have been a significant problem had the wallet been lifted. From that time on, I was especially aware of people around me, and carried less cash and fewer cards.
:)>-

I always wear a money belt or leg safe, and was picked on an Amsterdam tram. Had a small pocketbook across my body, but was hanging on to a pole as the tram swung around the curves. Someone opened up the purse and took out my change purse, with about 30€ in it... credit card was in a zipped interior pocket of the purse. Everything else was safely stored in the moneybelt. That episode, and the fact that hubby 'lost' passport out of front jeans pocket, convinced him to start using one, too. We've moved on to 'leg safes' which are flat pockets that go around the calf with velcro straps - quite comfortable, really.

Now we just need a money belt that can hold a camera... :)

For the rest of our trip, my husband kept the camera in a case snapped to his belt. It looked incredibly dorky, but it made him feel better!

Strass, just carry your camera in the airplane barf bag :))

Some years ago, when my college senior daughter was in the second grade, I took the family on a quick trip to Rome during the school year. We were near the Coliseum and I have never seen so many groups of kids picking pockets in my life. We could also see that there were plain clothes police catching them. We stood, with our backs to the wall watching the "action" for awhile. Later walking back to our car, a teenager made a grab for my wife's pocketbook. Before I could do anything, a plain clothes cop tackled him. After returning home, my daughter's teacher called her up to the front of the class for show and tell to show what she learned on her trip. She showed the class how to pick pockets! We got a call from the principal about that one.

Oh, Basing, this is sooooooooo funny :))

Faina, i love the barf-bag idea!! lol. anddddd...travelnut, how the heck could they get a passport out of a front jeans pocket!?! I thought that part of me would be safe from pickpockets. yikes!

Show and tell: How to pick a pocket. Outstanding.
My story: Prague - evening. ATM. I bend down squinting at the faint instructions on the screen afraid I would do something wrong and not get my card back or something. I had a tote bag over my shoulder, which in the process of leaning over to see the screen, was pushed out behind me. My wife was also squinting at the screen, trying to help. Before I knew it, I felt a jostle, and two well dressed young adults were running down the street with my GPS unit. Thankfully, the camera was around my neck.
Couple of days later, my wife and I were leaning over and peering into a shop window (we don't learn quickly). Her backpack was jostled and she quickly turned, they had started to unzip the top zipper of the backpack. They ran off. Were they the same two??
She doesn't wear the backpack anymore, and my "wallet" goes around my neck or down my pants leg, camera in a case lashed to my belt.
People jostling is one trick. The other is when you are totally absorbed in something both looking in the same direction. Watch each other's backs!!