Hi, I am mostly in the European forums and very often the topic is pickpockets. And someone in a thread always states that you have just as much chance to be pickpocketed in the US as in Europe. But I have known people in the US who have been victims of violent robberies *but* never anyone who has been pickpocketed. Has anyone in this forum ever been pickpocketed in the US? If so, where and how. TIA Regards, Walter
p.s. Just curious, and not a troll that is my correct e-mail address.

Nope, never been pickpocket-ed, but remember that in the US, we are way, waaaay more cautious about that stuff than we would be on vacation. I grew up in a ghetto so I know where to go, where not to go, where I should and shouldn't be. It's the same in Los Angeles as New York as Miami as DC. I don't have that advantage in Europe.

Something else to consider, since there are so many different people in big US cities, from all over the world, wearing all different kinds of clothes, who can tell who's a tourist laden down with cash?

Walter -- I hop back and forth between forums (fora) and know what you mean about the pickpocket threads. The truth is that pickpocketing truly is more of a problem in European cities than it is in the US (where we tend to resort to higher violence for bigger "take.")

However: there certainly is pickpocket activity in larger US cities and/or at heavily crowded events (sports, outdoor concerts, etc.). Snatch-and-grab loss of handbags has been a NYC problem, at least pre-Giuliani -- but seems now to be on the wane. Pickpocketing on public transportation is also an occasional problem, particularly at rush hours -- so that most Americans have learned not to carry wallets in hip-pockets and backpacks are now more common than handbags.

My aunt was victimized recently at WashDC's Union Station, in an operation wherein a woman immediately in front of her, in the process of stepping onto an escalator to/from the subway, dropped several packages. My aunt, who couldn't go around anyway, bent to help the woman, allowing the collaborator to lift her wallet out of her purse. This is a common ploy, I'm told, with variations practiced particularly in airports (e.g., around security gates).

A final observation: my comment about Giuliani above is not really an aside, because it does seem that where tourist dollars (or attracting business enterprise) are involved, local politicians tend to support serious efforts to "clean up" pickpocketing, etc.

By contrast, it seems obvious that, particularly in areas like Italy and Spain (esp. Barcelona), local government seems to feel that pick-pocket income is just another informal form of tourist revenue. Those who prey on tourists are obviously tolerated and maybe even supported -- and that's just too bad if the tourists don't like it; as long as they're there, they can lump it. I've often felt there HAS to be some kickback to local officials for the pickpocketing and related scams to be so widespread and unchecked.

P.S. They caught and prosecuted the pair who took my aunt's wallet. Q. E. D.

My boss got his wallet lifted on the subway during a trip to New York City. That's the only instance of pickpocketing that I've ever heard of in the U.S.

My wallet was lifted from my purse--one of those African straw ones with leather straps that were popular some years back--in Water Tower Place, a shopping mall on Michigan Avenue in Chicago which attracts many tourists. Didn't notice a thing until I went to pay for lunch.

I had the same experience as Marilyn but on the subway platform in Boston several years ago. Interestingly enough, I had the same kind of purse.

I was pickpocketed in Pittsburgh and lost my credit cards. I realized it and reported it within hours, so I wasn't out even a penny. The thief kept running up bills for months, hitting one place three times. He made no attempt to forge my signature, and bought gas one time (stations are supposed to write down license plates, but this place didn't). Don't know if the thief ever got caught.

I had my wallet lifted at the Fine Arts Theater in Chicago-didn't notice it was gone until much later in the evening. I also had my briefcase taken from the commuter train I ride every day, the thief probably hoping to score a laptop computer. I'm sure they were none too pleased to find a carton of strawberries and a couple cans of soda! A friend of mine also had her purse stolen from the back of her chair in a restaurant in a suburb of Chicago.

Personally, I think people tend to be less cautious in their own backyard until something happens to them-I have traveled all over Europe and never once had anything stolen from me because I am more cautious and don't travel with a purse.

I don't quite understand the point of this site. Are we about to have a series on "Crimes I Have Been a Victim Of"? What's next: "Who's Been Mugged?" then, "Who's Been Held Up?" Or is it is merely to show that people have been victims of crime in the United States as well as Italy and elsewhere? Okay, the points been made! Enough, already!

Howard, surely you don't mean that every single utterance on the internet has to have an actual POINT? The point of this site is for people who share an interest in travel to share information, and I for one am sick of people who feel they need to police people's right to post things, or answer things as they feel moved. It has been said more than once, if it offends you, don't waste your time reading it! Who KNOWS what is going to catch someone's interest, and move them to reply? I mean, who can forget Dr. Abati or whatever his name was...

Hey, Marilyn, I'm not offended. Quite the opposite, I think it's quite laughable.
My point it, so what if you've had your pocket picked. I've been mugged in the past and had a gun point at me another time, so what! I still walk on those same streets where they happened. I'm not about to start a website on, "I'll tell you about my mugging and you tell me yours."
Hey, don't get me wrong, I love this website! And, one of the reasons I do is because people can and do express their opinions on a variety--a wide variety--of subjects. So, I'm expressing mine on the subject of pickpockets!

Every summer when we are up in the "city" (SF) we watch as tourists let their shoulder bags dangle off their shoulders while riding the cable cars. We've seen numerous snatch and runs from the cable cars which could so easily be avoided if people were just a little more cautious. I sometimes think that the tourists get caught up in the beauty and excitement of SF and just act carelessly. Obviously, the crooks are there to take advantage.