Comments on: Pigeon poop pickpocket http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/ Pickpockets, Con Artists, Gangsters, Thieves, and Travel Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:49:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: peter and laura Guest http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-3719 peter and laura Guest Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:11:01 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-3719 Barcelona on Wednesday I was actually hit on by a pigeon over my glasses or was I? No one tackled us I would have been very cross. On Thursday afternoon Nov 14 2011 less than 300 yards from a police station at Playa Espanya we were attacked in daylight on the pavement, by a Morocan. We wrestled, I was shouting "help us in Spanish" no..... "help us" in Spanish....as he took my wallet, he was covered in some sort of grease so I could not hold the bastard, and it ended up on my clothes.......He fled on a bicycle which we think was held ready for him by 2 elderly men who then disappeared as well. Knowing Barcelona by reputation .....I had left the credit cards and passports in the room safe , AND I was not hurt BUT we will never go back there. Apparently the only place as bad is the Paris underground. . According to experts they had an "open door" policy 2 years ago for refugees and have been paying ever since,and a type of Mafia are there in force.....and the police really do nothing except fill in insurance claims. There was a queue yards long in the police station of people ( some had just arrived and been attacked at the rail station) waiting to complain and cursing the place. Matt has a buddy from school , a Ryanair pilot now lives there, goes to a gym, and tried to fight them off. As a consequence he got a severe kicking and properly beaten up. When you get done there are unseen bastards lurking in case it goes wrong .....otherwise they try for no violence and no knives! Easy answer....DONT GO!! PG Barcelona on Wednesday I was actually hit on by a pigeon over my glasses or was I? No one tackled us I would have been very cross.
On Thursday afternoon Nov 14 2011 less than 300 yards from a police station at Playa Espanya we were attacked in daylight on the pavement, by a Morocan. We wrestled, I was shouting “help us in Spanish” no….. “help us” in Spanish….as he took my wallet, he was covered in some sort of grease so I could not hold the bastard, and it ended up on my clothes…….He fled on a bicycle which we think was held ready for him by 2 elderly men who then disappeared as well. Knowing Barcelona by reputation …..I had left the credit cards and passports in the room safe , AND I was not hurt BUT we will never go back there. Apparently the only place as bad is the Paris underground. .

According to experts they had an “open door” policy 2 years ago for refugees and have been paying ever since,and a type of Mafia are there in force…..and the police really do nothing except fill in insurance claims. There was a queue yards long in the police station of people ( some had just arrived and been attacked at the rail station) waiting to complain and cursing the place. Matt has a buddy from school , a Ryanair pilot now lives there, goes to a gym, and tried to fight them off. As a consequence he got a severe kicking and properly beaten up. When you get done there are unseen bastards lurking in case it goes wrong …..otherwise they try for no violence and no knives! Easy answer….DONT GO!! PG

]]> By: Bambi http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-1634 Bambi Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:46:21 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-1634 Jan, thanks for sharing your pigeon poop experience and today's street crime scene in Buenos Aires. Congratulations on foiling five theft attempts. For some, that can leave a sour taste of a place. Your success proves that the best travel accessory is a nugget of cynicism or a granule of skepticism. For another report of the Pigeon Poop Perp at work in Buenos Aires, see my post on <a href="http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2009/06/buenos-aires/" rel="nofollow">Street Crime in Buenos Aires</a> Jan, thanks for sharing your pigeon poop experience and today’s street crime scene in Buenos Aires. Congratulations on foiling five theft attempts. For some, that can leave a sour taste of a place. Your success proves that the best travel accessory is a nugget of cynicism or a granule of skepticism.

For another report of the Pigeon Poop Perp at work in Buenos Aires, see my post on Street Crime in Buenos Aires

]]> By: Jan http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-1633 Jan Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:39:46 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-1633 BUENOS AIRES I was on my own when I was sprayed on my back pack and legs with a smelly grey substance on Av 9 de Julio. When I felt it on my leg I turned around immediately and saw a man doing a U turn right behind me. Next a female accomplice stopped and said how it was caused by the air conditioners on the buildings and offered to get me some paper. When I found a tissue in my pocket, I told her I would be fine. Then another female accomplice appeared with a bottle of water offering to wash it off. I thanked them and said I would be fine and that my hotel was close by, then left. Another day we were walking down Florida unaware that a couple were following us closely. She used her scarf to cover my husband's camera case while she unzipped it. My husband felt the pressure, turned around and grabbed her arm. They made out that they were innocent of course. In twelve days my husband and I had five incidents. In 2007 we were there for 14 days and we did not have one incident. BUENOS AIRES

I was on my own when I was sprayed on my back pack and legs with a smelly grey substance on Av 9 de Julio. When I felt it on my leg I turned around immediately and saw a man doing a U turn right behind me. Next a female accomplice stopped and said how it was caused by the air conditioners on the buildings and offered to get me some paper. When I found a tissue in my pocket, I told her I would be fine. Then another female accomplice appeared with a bottle of water offering to wash it off. I thanked them and said I would be fine and that my hotel was close by, then left.
Another day we were walking down Florida unaware that a couple were following us closely. She used her scarf to cover my husband’s camera case while she unzipped it. My husband felt the pressure, turned around and grabbed her arm. They made out that they were innocent of course.
In twelve days my husband and I had five incidents. In 2007 we were there for 14 days and we did not have one incident.

]]> By: Hunting for Thieves « Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff – Site News http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-1072 Hunting for Thieves « Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff – Site News Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:42:47 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-1072 [...] website I came across, and it might help you learn how to avoid pickpockets. There’s The Stain, to watch out for, for one thing. There are con artists. And there’s straightforward robbery [...] [...] website I came across, and it might help you learn how to avoid pickpockets. There’s The Stain, to watch out for, for one thing. There are con artists. And there’s straightforward robbery [...]

]]> By: Thiefhunters in Paradise » 6,000 thefts per day on Barcelona visitors http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-879 Thiefhunters in Paradise » 6,000 thefts per day on Barcelona visitors Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:17:49 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-879 [...] at large. That makes me laugh. The police, at one time, showed me their profiles of more than 300 pigeon poop pickpockets alone! “La Mancha,” the stain, is what they call them, because they dirty their [...] [...] at large. That makes me laugh. The police, at one time, showed me their profiles of more than 300 pigeon poop pickpockets alone! “La Mancha,” the stain, is what they call them, because they dirty their [...]

]]> By: Mike Linton http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-704 Mike Linton Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:31:27 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-704 My buddy and I just got sprayed by a trio of Buenos Aires Birdshit Bandits, the concoction was a white milky liquid that had bits of seeds mixed in it. We were walking through a park on Libertado. Can you imagine? These guys go home and take a mortar and pestle to birdseed then mix it with (milk/yogurt?? who knows). First they got my friend - I was 20 feet away and looking in other direction, then saw that he had something on his back and that a man and a woman were trying to help him clean it off with pocket napkins and a bottle of water. As I went over to see what was the deal(I thought he had slipped and fell down, the ground in the park was muddy & slippery). I was amused thinking he had just dunked his butt in the mud, he was obviously not hurt, and when I moved toward him the third guy who was now behind me said 'the birds got you too' - he must have sprayed me with the stuff as soon as I turned toward my friend. Since we both had our wallets deep in front pockets, our birdshit bandits didn't get so much as a centavo, but probably had a good laugh on us. We immediately got in a cab back to our apartment to change clothes(they really doused us him especially) and on the ride we determined that it had to have been an attempted scam as we saw few birds and to get us with that much it would need to be a) a flock of birds) or b) a friggin constipated condor. The best part was coming home to internet access and seeing the posts like this one so we knew we weren't crazy. We were lucky in that we had safeguarded our valuables, reason # 6,437,101 to keep your wallet in your front pocket vs. back. I will repost this in a few other spots to warn others - my hope is someone will be forewarned and when it happens to them *please* find the birdshit solution, take it from them, and spray the shit out of them with their own crap. My buddy and I just got sprayed by a trio of Buenos Aires Birdshit Bandits, the concoction was a white milky liquid that had bits of seeds mixed in it. We were walking through a park on Libertado. Can you imagine? These guys go home and take a mortar and pestle to birdseed then mix it with (milk/yogurt?? who knows). First they got my friend – I was 20 feet away and looking in other direction, then saw that he had something on his back and that a man and a woman were trying to help him clean it off with pocket napkins and a bottle of water. As I went over to see what was the deal(I thought he had slipped and fell down, the ground in the park was muddy & slippery). I was amused thinking he had just dunked his butt in the mud, he was obviously not hurt, and when I moved toward him the third guy who was now behind me said ‘the birds got you too’ – he must have sprayed me with the stuff as soon as I turned toward my friend. Since we both had our wallets deep in front pockets, our birdshit bandits didn’t get so much as a centavo, but probably had a good laugh on us. We immediately got in a cab back to our apartment to change clothes(they really doused us him especially) and on the ride we determined that it had to have been an attempted scam as we saw few birds and to get us with that much it would need to be a) a flock of birds) or b) a friggin constipated condor. The best part was coming home to internet access and seeing the posts like this one so we knew we weren’t crazy. We were lucky in that we had safeguarded our valuables, reason # 6,437,101 to keep your wallet in your front pocket vs. back. I will repost this in a few other spots to warn others – my hope is someone will be forewarned and when it happens to them *please* find the birdshit solution, take it from them, and spray the shit out of them with their own crap.

]]> By: Thiefhunters in Paradise » Street crime in Buenos Aires http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-682 Thiefhunters in Paradise » Street crime in Buenos Aires Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:45:59 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-682 [...] For more on the “condiment caper,” read: The Pigeon Poop Pickpocket [...] [...] For more on the “condiment caper,” read: The Pigeon Poop Pickpocket [...]

]]> By: Bambi http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-584 Bambi Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:49:21 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-584 Thanks for your comment, Andy. Do you think you recognize this particular man? If so, can you remember any details you'd like to share? Date, location, M.O., all of these would be interesting for me to log. Our research continues. Also, it's useful to report your experience to the local police and embassy or consulate. Maybe you did so, or perhaps the time it would take was not worth it or possible. Reports help the local government understand the extent of their problem, and allows consular offices to warn potential visitors, when warranted. Thanks a lot for writing. I know how maddening it is to be had. These guys are real pros. Thanks for your comment, Andy. Do you think you recognize this particular man? If so, can you remember any details you’d like to share? Date, location, M.O., all of these would be interesting for me to log. Our research continues.

Also, it’s useful to report your experience to the local police and embassy or consulate. Maybe you did so, or perhaps the time it would take was not worth it or possible. Reports help the local government understand the extent of their problem, and allows consular offices to warn potential visitors, when warranted.

Thanks a lot for writing. I know how maddening it is to be had. These guys are real pros.

]]> By: andy http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-571 andy Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:09:16 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-571 This fucking bastard stole my wallet. As far as I am concerned he should have his hands crushed. The time and expense this caused to replace the stolen items has been immense. this may so cs This fucking bastard stole my wallet. As far as I am concerned he should have his hands crushed. The time and expense this caused to replace the stolen items has been immense.
this may so cs

]]> By: charlie http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-221 charlie Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:53:32 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-221 telekinesis?? surely that would not work telekinesis?? surely that would not work

]]> By: Rick http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-164 Rick Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:06:44 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-164 'A pickpocket can't steal without touching, right?' Wrong. Some can. They close their eyes and concentrate real hard and achieve a rudimentary form of telekinesis. ;) ‘A pickpocket can’t steal without touching, right?’

Wrong. Some can. They close their eyes and concentrate real hard and achieve a rudimentary form of telekinesis. ;)

]]> By: charlie http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-163 charlie Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:30:24 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-163 I thought people (tourists) were aware of this scam and it would seem obvious to me that the whole distraction were a ply to pick my pocket. I thought people (tourists) were aware of this scam and it would seem obvious to me that the whole distraction were a ply to pick my pocket.

]]> By: charlie http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/2008/06/pigeon-poop-pickpocket/#comment-162 charlie Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:41:04 +0000 http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/?p=248#comment-162 . A pickpocket can't steal without touching, right? IS THIS TRUE !! REPLY . A pickpocket can’t steal without touching, right? IS THIS TRUE !!

REPLY

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