Thieves – Page 2 – Thiefhunters in Paradise

Bag stolen in Barcelona cafe

The loss of a valuable shoulder bag stolen in Barcelona was devastating to the victim. The bag had been on the floor beside her chair in a café. The theft happened in just a moment’s lapse of attention.

My name is Rashmi Raman. I am a 32-year-old Indian woman from Delhi where I am law professor (yes, the irony of being a lawyer and getting robbed is not lost on me).

My handbag containing 2,200 euros, 800 USD and a few hundred British Pounds along with a lot of other currency souvenirs from my travels and all my bank cards and national identity cards, passports (old and current), yellow fever certificate (from my time in Africa) and my journal, a book, personal cosmetics and electronics was robbed from right next to my chair while I had a morning coffee with a colleague at No. 3, Calle Pelai in Barcelona at 10.40 AM on Friday July 22.

Bag stolen in Barcelona café

The café we were sitting inside was Subway, right across the street from our hotel. I wouldn’t normally have had all my money and papers on me for just stepping out for a coffee though I have been traveling with all this on me for years now. I don’t know how to rationalize what happened to me but I guess it’s just really really rotten luck.

I filed a police report immediately at the underground precinct at Plaça Catalunya. The next day I went back to the café to meet the owner and request to see the CCTV footage. He was kind enough to show it to me. I watched in horror as the CCTV footage clearly showed a white man, dressed in checks, calmly grab my brown leather bag, throw something white over it and walk out of the café. Ten seconds later I saw myself leaping up in panic on the video.

I don’t know how I survived it… My life has been a nightmare the past weeks since then. Getting back to India without a passport and no money was hellish. I don’t know how long it will take me to come to terms with everything I lost that day.

What inhuman madness would possess someone to steal every scrap of my worldly belongings and leave me destitute and without identity in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language? Why couldn’t he have had the courage or decency to return my passport and identity cards to the hotel? The hotel’s key card was in the bag. It is not too difficult to understand what hell you are unleashing on unsuspecting tourists by robbing them like this.

I will never see again the familiar pages and the many beloved stamps on my passports. I cannot understand what use they are to him? He probably threw away everything except the cash. He threw away the hard-earned records of my whole life.

Don’t blame the restaurant—thieves are everywhere!

I felt really silly actually going to Subway for a coffee that morning—in a month of traveling in Spain that was the first and only morning I chose a chain restaurant over the dozens of much more charming local cafés… I can’t imagine what got into me to go to Subway that day.

I was staying at the Catalonia Ramblas which is across the street from the Subway on 3, Calle Pelai. The hotel staff were really amazing and helped me file the police report, translated for me, and were a huge support.

I’m using my real name in case the thief ever reads this and he has all my ID (as well as my personal journal). Perhaps nobody knows more about me than he does!

Thanks for the work you are doing documenting theft in Barcelona and giving victims like me a space to vent—it is much appreciated.

— Rashmi Raman

I feel for Rashmi. I, too, often carry a loaded shoulder bag when I travel. And that’s despite everyone’s advice—including my own—to leave it in the hotel room. Sometimes the room isn’t ready. Or you don’t feel great about the security in the room. Or you need that cash or those documents with you. Sometime, you just need to carry your stuff.

In those cases though, there’s one rule I never, ever break: keep physical contact with the bag. It’s big and heavy, but it stays on my lap. Or tight behind my back on the chair. Or maybe with my foot through the straps (very rare). Even that practice is not failsafe—bag snatchers may rip and run. I never, ever hang my bag on the back of a chair. My husband, Bob Arno, is a white-hat pickpocket. Watch him easily steal items from customers in a café.

For almost every bag stolen in Barcelona, and there are many, there’s a rule broken. I said almost. Read the horror story about the bag stolen in Barcelona right off a woman’s lap!

Keyless car theft, increasing crime

Keyless car theft is possible even when a car is locked and the electronic fob is away from the car. With a small electronic gadget, thieves can open the car and steal its contents, start the car, and drive it off.

Eve D. wrote to tell me about the recent theft she experienced while traveling by car through Portugal. Eve is well aware of theft risks, and her husband, Jeff, goes so far as to Velcro his wallet. I presume by that Eve means that Jeff keeps his wallet in a pocket with a Velcro closure.

Eve wrote:

We drove from Lisbon to the tiny walled town of Obidos, Portugal.

There, just outside the city wall, our rental car was broken into and all our carry ons, with all our valuables, were stolen. Our car was an SUV so you could see that we had luggage in the car, but the car was definitely locked when we left it.

The thieves just took the carry ons, leaving the big, more obvious suitcases. They used a remote control thing that can open cars with keyless entry.

Keyless car theft

Keyless car theft is a growing crime and a threat to all (it seems) cars with touchless wireless key fobs. Wireless-entry fobs work by proximity; the doors won’t open and the car won’t start unless the fob is quite close to the car. The signals sent between the car and fob are weak, so the two must be close to one another in order to work. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

When you’re at home, where’s your car? In the driveway? On the street? And where’s your electronic key (and your spare electronic key)? In the house somewhere, right?, and too far from the car to work.

Car thieves are using an electronic signal booster, or amplifier, to make the car and distant key communicate with each other over a longer distance. When it works, the thieves can unlock the car, start it, and drive away.

In Eve’s case, it’s not clear that her key and car were close enough together, since she describes her car as being parked outside the ancient (thick) city wall. However, a thief with a signal amplifier, good timing, and a lot of nerve would be able to accomplish the boost and get the car unlocked before the fob walks too far away. That is, beyond several hundred meters. Especially if he doesn’t intend to start the car.

We were moving from one town to another and decided to stop at Obidos to have lunch. We were not parked in a secluded spot; there were probably about 15 cars in the lot with us. There were workman inside the walls setting up for a medieval fair. Some of the cars were probably the workers’ so maybe there wasn’t much in-and-out activity. I tend to think the workers could have been involved.

I would guess not. The workers are gainfully employed (in a country with 11-12% unemployment), they were busy working, and they wouldn’t likely risk their jobs.

Keyless-entry car theft

We did file a police report. Thank goodness one in our group was a Brazilian who spoke Portuguese, but I don’t think filing the police report did much good. The police said they would keep a lookout for our things along the road. Obidos is a very safe city, somewhat off the beaten track. But the police said ours was the second incident reported that day.

Sounds like a booster-booster in the neighborhood. (Do I need to point out that booster is slang for thief?)

The rental cars in Europe have stickers on their windshields announcing the fact that the car belongs to tourists. So, please remind tourists not to leave anything in their cars.

Excellent advice, when possible. But how should Eve have behaved differently? It was a calculated risk, a short stop, a quiet town, a happy mood, and everything should have been okay. You have to live, right?

I’m sure that I wouldn’t have taken that chance though. I’d choose a restaurant where I could park my car in full view from a window or patio, or I’d get something to go, or leave a volunteer to stay with the car. But I’m in the steal business and more aware of the risks. I’m not much of a chance-taker. (I lived in Vegas for 20 years and never gambled.)

I think the clicker thing, remote door opener, has been around for a while. We had our whole car taken in Marseille about 10 years ago.

Eve is right. These keyless-entry signal-amplifiers have been around for some time, though they haven’t been seen much by law enforcement. Just this week, European security researchers announced that most cars built by Volkswagen since 1995 can be broken into with a wireless hack. “Our findings affect millions of vehicles worldwide and could explain unsolved insurance cases of theft from allegedly locked vehicles,” the researchers wrote. Millions of vehicles! (Eve’s rental was a Nissan.)

Earlier this month, two men were arrested for keyless car theft, suspected of stealing more than 100 cars and moving them across the border to Mexico. Rather than a signal amplifier, these men used a laptop and software intended for use by dealers and locksmiths. It’s yet another way that keyless-entry systems can be bypassed. A safety-hatch for us car-owners, it’s also a backdoor ready to be exploited by any evil-doers so motivated.

So, why did Eve’s thieves take the carry-ons and leave the large luggage? Maybe they got away on a motorcycle or in a tiny smart car. Maybe they ran out of time. Or maybe they wanted the jewelry and electronics more likely to be found in carry-on bags, and didn’t need the socks and sweaters that would be in suitcases.

So just a reminder…the rental cars in Europe have stickers on the windshield. Do not leave anything in the car, and maybe not get an SUV. Our car was parked in a small lot so maybe not public enough. Also there was a curve in the road so that someone could be looking out. There were work trucks there too.

Try a faraday cage

What else can we do to protect our cars and their contents? You can keep your fob (and spare) in a faraday cage to prevent it from transmitting radio signals. A faraday cage could be your refrigerator or some other metal box. (A refrigerator might not be good for the key fob’s battery.) Or it could be a pouch or wallet made of metal mesh especially for this purpose—many are available.

If you park in a high-crime area or you drive a highly-desirable car (to a thief), and your keyless-entry fob is typically within 100 meters or so of the parked car, it might be a good idea, unless you can secure the car in a locked area. For the rest of us, it might be a step too far. And it certainly cancels the convenience of a wireless fob.

Of course the manufacturers should fix this vulnerability—though they’ve known about it for five or more years already and haven’t. In the meantime, we drivers will lose more cars and more personal items left inside our cars, and find little or no trace of the thieves.

EDIT 8/20/16: In a reverse problem, you might be locked out of your car when your key fob is affected by interference from a neon sign or locked out of your garage due to interference from LED lights in the garage.

EDIT 11/28/17: Watch video of two white-jump-suited thieves steal a Mercedes using a signal amplifier. Takes 19 seconds to get the car door open.

baggage theft thieves

Pickpockets in Rio — Anti-theft rules

Anti-theft Rules for Rio

How to Protect Yourself from Street Thieves and Muggers

“Be more vigilant; be aware of your surroundings,” warn US government agencies to travelers heading to Rio. Be aware of pickpockets in Rio.

This boy swiped a phone right out of the victim’s hand.

But what does it really mean: “be more vigilant”? That advice seems to be given on a daily basis now, whether about visiting France, attending the Olympics in Rio, or a music festival anywhere.

Robbed in Rio

How should the ordinary citizen become more alert, more aware, and more vigilant nowadays? What does that even mean?

Well, consider where you are, first, and the specific risks, whether you’re on a Mediterranean cruise, or in a club in Paris, or on a beach in Rio. There are smart tactics useful for all those places.

[Edited to add: The New York Times reports on 8/8/16 that “there were nearly 11,000 street robberies in June” this year—and that’s only reported street robberies!]

Pickpockets in Rio

Pickpockets in Rio are not seasoned criminals—many are simply street urchins, teenage muggers, and simple pickpockets looking for an opportunity. They are the homeless piraña kids who have little to fear from law enforcement, and behave like pack animals, circling their prey in perpetual motion, looking for a new easy score. They are looking for another uninitiated mark who simply doesn’t understand the risk.

A perfect mark or an inexperienced tourist gives off signals which the perps pick up on. Their internal computer tells them this looks easy, no danger of getting caught, and I can sell that iPhone to a fence in less than thirty minutes. Easy work.

You can minimize the risk of a bad experience by following a few ground rules and understanding who your opponents are. Here are three fundamental rules to put into daily practice, in Rio and elsewhere.

Anti-theft Rules for Rio

1. Don’t give off the signals that identify you as their next meal ticket.

The most obvious behaviors to avoid not just while in Rio, but in many summer destinations:

•Dress down, do not wear an expensive watch or any jewelry, and especially not a gold chain or necklace. Thieves stealing watches do not use tricky moves to open buckles as in a Las Vegas stage show. They grab it and rip it off, breaking the strap. Do not think that a Rolex is safe because of its sturdy metal strap or double latch. Thieves in Rio are experts at twisting a Rolex face to break a pin in the strap, which is the weak point in a Rolex watch strap or bracelet.

•Under no circumstances should you hang an expensive camera around your neck.

•Don’t use an iPhone in public.

•Don’t use an ATM unguarded. If you must use an ATM, carefully analyze the location, and look for scruffy individuals in near proximity.

•Do not carry a wallet or credit cards in a slanted front pants pocket which gapes an bit when you walk. Pickpockets in Rio operate with speed, not finesse. The tighter the pockets, the harder it is for the thieves. Crowded public transportation is common setting for pickpockets almost everywhere during the summer.

•Walk far from the curb on a busy street, to avoid marauding scooter thieves who snatch bags from shoulders or hands. When it’s dark, walk against the traffic and away from the curb. Wise Europeans already know to wear their back packs in front when walking in public.

•Sitting in a public bus, tour bus, tram, or train requires extra care. If you sit next to an open window, watch out. When the bus is still or creeping in traffic, aggressive kids jump up to grab a phone within reach, or leap onto the tire to reach inside the window.

There are tons more travel safety tips, but if you follow these suggestions above you have already eliminated the most common thefts in Rio.

2. Understand how and when to be defensive and when to be passive.

•Should you fend off a bare-chested youth who grabs something from you or attempts to mug you or your significant other? If it’s broad daylight and there are lots of people around, being forceful is generally fine. That means getting into a low position with good balance and watching your back for an attack from behind. The darker it gets the harder it is to evaluate the confrontation. Is it a team mugging you? How many are they? Each scenario requires different advice. A gang of muggers will often have one member with a weapon of some sort, usually a knife. They’re not seeking to harm you physically unless they are cornered or counter attacked.

•Don’t expect bystanders to step in and assist you. There is a dislike in Rio between the wealthy and the street kids—a class conflict between the rich (you, the tourist) and the not-so-rich. The general public will seldom come to your aid or interfere for fear of their own safety.

•Being cut or knifed in broad daylight is not common, but if you do hold on to a thief and shout for police, his buddies may quickly appear to help him. More common are attacks by single operators—a poorly dressed young male with bare chest and flip-flops or bare feet.

•The more sophisticated pickpockets in Rio use entirely different techniques. You avoid them and becoming their victim by using travel pouches hung inside your pants from a loop that your belt goes through. All online travel-accessory stores sell various inexpensive models. Those that hang under your shirt from a string around your neck are not sufficient in Rio.

3. Pro tips: Minimize the risk by identifying the perps early, and getting out of their line of sight.

•Sensing the approach of a mugger is half the battle.

•Try to stay on major streets and don’t deviate into unknown territory. Plan your itinerary and your exact routes. Ask your tour guide or the hotel staff if your route is safe to walk and what to avoid. But realize the scene changes drastically from day to evening to night.

•Muggers will often stand out by moving irrationally and not fitting into the scene. But this does not mean that every poor youngster is a criminal; it just means that you must observe your surroundings all the time, especially behind you. If you sense that a suspect (or a gang) is closing in on you—think National Geographic animal kill documentaries in Africa, predators circling their prey—get yourself into a defensive position, and certainly try to move away from a location where you are vulnerable.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve got to see this video. It’s theft after theft in Rio, some successful, some only attempts. Watch the utter nonchalance of the thieves, and of some of the victims, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atbbjjqo_dM

Robbed in Rio

Brazil mug phone pickpocket Rio thieves

Survey: Did you file a police report when you were pickpocketed?

Did you file a police report when you were pickpocketed?

I’ll be grateful for your response to this short survey? It applies to a single incident, but go ahead and fill it out for each incident, if you like. Thank you!

Thank you!

pickpocket police thieves

Hotel lobby baggage theft

Hotel lobby luggage theft; hotel lobby bag theft

[dropcap letter=”H”]otel lobby baggage theft is common precisely because people think it is not. We tend to feel we’ve entered a safe zone when we enter our hotel lobby.

And of course, it feels that way: compared to the city on the other side of the door, it is cool (or warm, if it’s winter), quiet, and peaceful. All the hustle and bustle of the street disappears, the crowds, the traffic, honking, sirens, beggars, hawkers, weather. The lobby may have flowers, scent, soothing music, something to drink, smiles. Compared to the outdoors, the lobby is the very nirvana the hotel advertises.

Hotel lobby baggage theft

Bob and I went to Rome recently for a film shoot with a German production company. We arrived two days before the film crew, but we happened to be in the lobby when they arrived. All ten of them entered with their luggage and crowded around the reception desk. Several tossed their backpacks into a corner while they checked in and introduced themselves to Bob and me. Eyeing those unguarded bags, I decided not to be a worrywart, a killjoy, and a hysteric. I thought I’d do my best to keep my eye on the bags.

The lobby was mildly chaotic with check-ins, greetings, and the driver back and forth with luggage. Next thing I knew, one of the crew lunged toward the luggage and grabbed the hand of a crouching thief.

It happened so fast it almost didn’t happen. The thief ran out the door empty-handed. Bob and I took off after him.

Bob ran faster and further than I did, and eventually caught a man who claimed to be a friend of the thief’s. We had not gotten a good look at the thief in the lobby—not that this guy knew that. Strangely, he didn’t object to my openly filming him. He also gave us his mobile phone number. Marco, a member of the crew who’d caught up with us, called the number right away to see if the number was correct. The friend-of-the-thief’s phone rang. None of us could identify the thief, so after talking for a while, we said goodbye.

Meanwhile, a police car had parked in front of our hotel. In the back seat was a newly-arrested pickpocket and outside of the car a victim was identifying the pickpocket to a policeman. That incident was totally unrelated to our attempted baggage theft. One of our crew used the opportunity to tell the officer about our almost-theft. We didn’t speak with the handcuffed pickpocket or the victim, but we wished we could have since we’d come to Rome to shoot a special on pickpocketing. What a coincidence!

The moral of the story is that baggage can’t be safely ignored in a hotel lobby. Not even through two glass doors, not even with a crowd of pals around, not with the receptionist facing the door, not even for a minute. But this story gets weirder. Much weirder!

At midnight, a thief calls

Hotel lobby baggage theft — Midnight in Piazza Barberini. The Norddeich TV production team with Bob Arno and Bambi Vincent.

At midnight, Marco’s phone rings. We’d had a good day of filming, a good dinner together, and we’re all standing in Piazza Barberini enjoying the night air and the energy from our successful shoot.

Marco doesn’t recognize the Italian phone number calling him but he answers his phone. His face darkens.

“I saw you and I know where you’re staying,” a man threatens in English. “I’m the guy who was in the back of the police car. In front of your hotel.”

What? None of us had ever spoken with that perp. We hadn’t given any of our phone numbers to anyone.

The thief continues: he knows who we are. We better not put any footage on Youtube. And he hangs up.

Marco is shaken. The rest of us are confused. Who was the man on the phone? He was certainly not the one who tried (and failed) to steal a crew member’s backpack in our hotel lobby. Neither was he the friend-of-the-thief. This guy was handcuffed in the back of a squad car during all that action.

Bob and I come up with a theory. A small band of marauding thieves had been prowling the area. As one attempted hotel lobby baggage theft, another pickpocketed a man on the street. A multidisciplinary criminal outfit on a self-enrichment offensive. Unspecialized opportunists on a hit-and-miss venture.

Bob phones the mystery thief. “Bob Arno, I know you,” the pickpocket says. “I’ve watched your film. I’m sitting here in a cafe with about 30 other pickpockets and we’ve all seen it.” No longer threatening; he’s positively jovial. He had heard the police officers talk about our tv shoot while he was being booked at the police station. He was let go (of course), and later reunited with his friends. The one whose phone Marco had called, and the one who had tried to steal a backpack.

Knowing Bob Arno from the National Geographic film Pickpocket King, the three paranoid thieves thought Bob had filmed the attempted baggage theft and did not want the footage put online.

Bob phoned the pickpocket once more:

The next day I call him, via Skype. We bond, and have a good conversation. And he spills some secrets: the size of their network, how they work and where, and how long they stay in one country. About thirty of them, all Moroccans, make up the gang. He is friendly and quite educated. This surprises me. This is nearly always how we start out: digging and drilling down for information. Gentle, easy question at first, slowly building some sort of rapport. Eventually we can map their entire operation, including girlfriends, snitches, fences, and on and on. Some of these efforts can take years, and they are not all successful.

All this resulting from a hotel lobby baggage theft that didn’t even happen. Read about Marianne, an actual victim of hotel lobby baggage theft.

The undetectable impostor infiltrating hotel lobbies

Think you’d notice a bag thief prowling around your hotel lobby? You haven’t met “Pedro,” a very different practitioner of hotel lobby baggage theft. Pedro, a multi-talented thief working in Paris, told us:

If you want to make money, you have to go to the big hotels, the five-stars. You use psychology, so you’re not suspected. You must be well-dressed. If you look like a good man, the person working the doors doesn’t keep you out. You are a good man! You have to feel like a good man to avoid security.

A pickpocket's story; hotel lobby baggage theft — “Pedro” spoke to us freely in a restaurant in Paris. He eventually even told us his real name. Paris police know him by his two crooked little fingers.

Look and feel like a good man. By that Pedro means appearing respectable, unimpeachable. Unlike our bag-thief-wannabe in Rome, Pedro doesn’t snatch and dash. He stands right beside you—orders coffee beside you in the lobby bar. He’s a good actor—you don’t suspect him. You don’t raise your antennas because he’s near. In fact, your guard is down. You’re in the hotel lobby!

baggage hotel Italy lobby luggage Rome theft

Gang of 11 Pickpockets Stole Mobile Phones

Pickpockets Stole Mobile Phones

Who says pickpocketing is a petty crime?

A gang of 11 thieves was just sentenced in London. These pickpockets stole mobile phones on the London Tube and supposedly made about $15,000 a day. Police recovered £143,000 but credit the gang with making more than five million pounds through stealing phones. Let me do the math for you: that’s more than seven million dollars. Is that petty?

These thieves belong to a criminal network and systematically steal mobile phones from Tube passengers. It’s not a one-off crime. The British Transport Police Chief Superintendent Paul Brogden calls this an “industrial-scale criminal operation.” Can it possibly be considered petty?

More than a thousand mobile phones were seized with a large quantity of cash.

British Transport Police press release.

You can tell that term really irks me. The entire premise that pickpocketing is a petty crime irks me. How much evidence do we need?

You’d think I’d be used to this kind of report, after 22 years of pickpocket research.

These characters were all sentenced to two to three years; head thief Nawid Moshfiq got a little more time. What will they serve, half? Less? Then what? Will they go back to work in London? Maybe, or they’ll move on to another city where the police don’t know them.

London phone pickpocket thieves

Child pickpockets in Europe

child pickpockets, Eiffel Tower, Paris France

French and Romanian police have just busted 18 members of an organized crime group in Romania and Paris. The gang, actually part of a huge network, is in the business of putting children to work as pickpockets and beggars.

Europol’s press release of February 12, 2016 states that the child pickpockets worked in and around the top tourist sites of Paris and on the trains, and that they took in about 7,000 euros per day.

The report does not reveal actually who was arrested. Were they only adult organizers, or were some of the child pickpockets themselves arrested, too? Neither do we know how many people made up this particular ring (this part of the larger network). Was it ten children, a hundred, or hundreds?

Child pickpockets

Paris pickpockets: The youngest child pickpocket called for a group photo. They posed and clowned, but none of them took photos of their own. — Bob Arno with part of a mob of child pickpockets. The youngest called for a group photo. Here they pose and clown, but none of them take photos of their own.

What we do know is that there are many, probably hundreds, of young pickpockets scampering around Paris. We know that there’s a fine line, even a crossover, between pickpocketing and begging. And we know that a habit of these children, when arrested, is to claim that their name is Hamidovic.

Exactly one year ago, I posted the story Hamidovic Pickpocket Network—Fagin is Alive! At that time, 60-year-old pickpocket-kingpin, gangster, and child-trafficker Fehim Hamidovic, was sentenced to seven years in prison. And our official, unnameable source in Paris, The Mysterious Monsieur F., famously said about the Hamidovic network:

This ‘beast’ will soon have a new head. The arrest of the chief of the Hamidovic pickpocket network did not change anything, they are always there. And they make a carnage!

That they do. In addition to the 7,000 euros per day the underage pickpockets take in (according to police), add the untold thousands that go unreported (see my logic related to pickpocket statistics in Barcelona), and add the collateral damage in lost mobile phones, credit card abuse, man-hours expended in reporting thefts, in replacing lost drivers licenses, credit cards, passports, and other documents, etc. Petty, it is not!

Also, if you go to Paris today, you will not notice a dearth of child pickpockets. Those arrested, be they the children themselves or their handlers, were a drop in the sea. Not to mention that, if it is anything like arrests in the past, the offenders will be released in less than 24 hours. If those arrested are adults, if they were charged with human-trafficking and other organized-crime counts, hopefully they will be held until their trials.

Europol International Pickpocketing Conference

Police across Europe are finally beginning to take pickpocketing more seriously. In December, Europol held a three-day conference on pickpocketing in The Hague, in which 18 countries participated with almost 200 participants. Though not a police officer, Bob Arno was invited to (and did) speak at the conference. Bob’s knowledge base is worldwide, unlike the police, who are bound to a single city.

This week’s arrest of 18 pickpockets is a promising start to a new initiative. It won’t be easy, as these gangs morph and move, and traipse across international borders. It’s like squeezing a balloon: when the welcome wears out in one city, when a country becomes legally uncomfortable for the pickpockets, they simply move on to greener pastures. As Bob and I speak to pickpockets around the world, we hear repeatedly that Spain is a favored location, especially Barcelona. The climate is mild, living is cheap, tourism is thriving, and the police “can be dealt with.”

As long as pickpocketing is considered “petty,” arrests will be a revolving-door affair. Charging these pickpocket gangsters as human-traffickers should increase the probability that they will be held and eventually convicted.

France Hamidovic organized crime paris pickpocket police Romania

A Pickpocket’s life story

A Pickpocket's story: To three cameras and an audio recorder, Pedro told a pickpocket’s story. He frequently turned to look at me, putting his face in the picture.

A pickpocket's story: “Pedro” spoke to us freely in a restaurant in Paris. He eventually even told us his real name. Paris police know him by his two crooked little fingers. — “Pedro” spoke to us freely in a restaurant in Paris. He eventually even told us his real name. Paris police know him by his two crooked little fingers.

Bob and I interviewed “Pedro” in Paris a few months ago. We first saw him at a coffee bar inside Gare de Lyon, a huge train station. To us, it was clear that he was observing someone. We watched and waited a short distance away. Eventually Pedro abandoned his prey, but we were certain enough of his profession. Bob pounced on him as he was leaving the station, chatting him up.

Surprisingly, Pedro spoke good English. For 20 minutes out in the streets, Bob stuck to him like glue trying to convince him to talk to us. I tailed the two of them, first from a distance, then joining up. Unable to get rid of us, Pedro nervously asked for our IDs.

“Maybe you’re a cop,” he said to Bob.

“But I don’t look like a cop.”

“Nobody looks like a cop. Maybe you’re somebody that works with a cop.” Pedro fake-laughed. ”What do you want,” he repeated. And, giving up on denials: “How did you find me?”

“I’ve followed you for an hour,” Bob said, clearly shocking and confusing Pedro. “Talk to me. You’ll enjoy it!”

“Okay, we’ll talk, and I’m going to tell you the truth. You grow in this job. You start to feel who sees you, who’s watching. That’s why I’m surprised you followed me.”

“What do you want most out of life, other than money?” Bob asked as Pedro led us to a nearby brasserie.

“Education for my child in Peru.”

We settled into the booth with the least noise and best light. Pedro asked the staff to lower the music volume. Bob ordered lunch for himself. Pedro ordered orange juice. Bob and I quickly set up an array of video cameras to film Pedro, with his permission, only from the back. Then we got started.

A pickpocket’s story

Call me Pedro. I’ve never used drugs. No one else in my family does this job. I have a daughter—we talk on the phone. She doesn’t know my work. I’m nervous when I work, all the time. But you have to control it.

In France, the first time you’re arrested, you probably won’t go to jail. The second time, maybe. The third time, you will go, maybe for three months. It depends: if you work alone, it’s not too bad. If you are working with three or four, it’s a gang and you go to jail for longer, maybe one year.

The amount of money I make varies. It depends on many factors. The place is very important. If you want to make money, you have to go to the big hotels, the five-stars. You use psychology, so you’re not suspected. You must be well-dressed. If you look like a good man, the person working the doors doesn’t keep you out. You are a good man! You have to feel like a good man to avoid security.

The real money is in the airports, the train stations, the big hotels, the nice hotels, the 5-stars… that’s my work. Sometimes I go on trains while they’re in the station, waiting for someone to put a bag down. But only before the train leaves. I don’t ride on the train.

Wait, someone’s calling me—it’s my wife.
[Pedro, smiling, speaks Spanish, describes us to the person on the phone.]

I was in Gare de Lyon today because I was following somebody. I might follow someone 20 minutes, one hour, if I’m working by myself.

A Pickpocket's Story: My first cautious, secretive photos show the well-dressed Pedro on the right, Bob on my left. — My first cautious, secretive photos show the well-dressed Pedro on the right, Bob on my left.

When judging a victim, I look at their baggage and their shoes. But good shoes alone are not enough. Sometimes people have a lot of cash because they don’t pay tax. The black people, the Chinese, the Arabian people.

I might first see them when I work at the airport. Then I follow them until the right moment. In the hotel it’s easier, because they put everything on the floor.

I first saw the man I was following today in the station. This month is vacation for people. They don’t put cash in the bank, they keep it, they don’t pay tax, they don’t use credit cards. I wanted to take his bag. He put it on the floor and went to buy a coffee. But a lady came near and there were a lot of people, so it didn’t work.

In Paris… in a week… it depends. I can make 10,000 euros, 5,000. I don’t think that’s a lot. In another week, I might make less. It’s luck.

I don’t use the credit cards. I’m looking for cash. Or maybe sometimes there’s a nice watch in the bag. I don’t use credit cards because I don’t have the PIN. For me, if I don’t have the PIN, I throw it out. Sometimes I put all the credit cards and ID in the post office box.

I was arrested last week. Maybe because I was working with other people. Maybe the police followed me. So now, I’m working by myself.

When I need partners, I go to the South American restaurants and I find them. I say please, give me a hand.

Yeah, arrested last week. I had to talk nice to the judge. She asked me, do you want to say something? I explained that I’m new in this country and it’s my first time. She believed me. She gave me a chance, said I can go. But I have to come back another day. A good judge will give you one chance because you have no precedent. She gave me 30 seconds, one minute to speak. I said I’m sorry, it’s my first time, I’m confused, please, I want one more chance. So I have to go back in one month. Then I will say the truth: yes, I took it, because I was confused. And I’ll say: forgive me. She’s going to ask me if I have a job and I’m going to say I’m working sometimes, I don’t have residency, but I’m working.

I was nervous in front of the judge because I could go to prison. But I’m not; and my partners also went free. But now I work alone.

A Pickpocket's Story: Pedro’s easy identifier: crooked little fingers to do his crooked work. — Pedro’s easy identifier: crooked little fingers to do his crooked work.

I want to go back to my country. I’ve been to Spain, to Italy…. I hear the police in Barcelona are easy, and they’re harder here in Paris.

I can tell you about the police. The police here are smart, more professional. In Spain, they don’t do a good job. They don’t care. In Madrid, sometimes they say you have to pay 500, 300 euros, and you pay it, and you continue, and you pay and you continue. The life is good in Spain because it’s cheap, the country is cheap to live.

I’ve been to Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm. I was in Stockholm for only two days a lot of years ago. I took big money, and then I took the train and, pssst! I left. Only two days there.

France interview paris pickpocket thieves

Theft by Blocking

Similar to the Prague pickpocket teams I’ve written about but even more sophisticated, was a South American gang regularly devastating an intersection on Fifth Avenue in New York City. A famous jewelry store on that corner mounted an offensive which starred several high-powered video cameras. The gang was made up of Jenny—the dip, three blockers, and a stall. They worked the intersection for hours at a time with brazen confidence and utter impunity. Each time Jenny made an illicit withdrawal, she counted the money in her hand—right out in the open—and divvied it up among her cohorts while crossing the street behind their victim. That way, NYPD Detective Crawford said, if accused, no single member would be carrying too much cash. Well, they might be, considering they made up to $8,000 per day, according to Crawford.

Like the Prague gang, Jenny’s danced an intricate choreography practiced until it appeared effortless. Their maneuvers impeded the victims’ forward progress, but they often performed in motion as well, tightly clustered around a victim as they crossed the street together, Jenny with her hand groping in a pocket or purse, her assistants positioned to block the views of other pedestrians. They did not, however, block the view from above, where mounted surveillance cameras tracked them like hawks tracking mice. The gang was arrested and Jenny served three years in prison.

Theft by blocking

While impeding employs a brilliant strategy that is simplicity itself, an opportunity must present itself. Therefore, I consider it an avoidable theft. None of us need be victims of impeder-thieves. We’ve seen the impedance technique (theft by blocking) used at doorways, including bank and department store doors, at turnstiles, at the entries of trains and buses, and at already-existing bottlenecks on sidewalks. Prague’s Wenceslas Square has a beauty: a subway stairway in the middle of a sidewalk, which forces pedestrians into a narrow passage. Thieves are known to prey there. Revolving doors are also frequent settings, and there, the door itself does the impeding. A purse is snagged just as a woman disappears through the doorway, leaving her valuables exposed and she, stuck.

Subcategories of theft by blocking include those who work on public transportation, which I discuss in Chapter Six [of Travel Advisory: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams], and those who script their teams like 30-second plays, tight as a television commercial, which I expose in Chapter Seven. In all impedence thefts, though, three ingredients are required: a stall who hinders the victim, a dip who extracts the goods, and accessible valuables. In other words, it’s preventable.

Excerpt from Travel Advisory: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams
Chapter Five: Rip-Offs: Introducing… The Opportunist

pickpocket theft

How pickpockets pick victims

Picking before picking

Some pickpockets, Angelo for example, rifle full speed through as many pockets and purses as possible in a tight crowd. That’s his M.O. Others, like Kharem in Barcelona, look for a good bet before taking chances. Kharem wanted to show us his talent. We had to hold him back.

Barcelona pickpocket Kharem guided us on a thief’s tour of La Rambla.

“Just point and talk,” Bob instructed him.

But he did more than that. Brazen and fearless, he actually tapped on men’s pockets as we fast-walked through the crowd. No one seemed to notice. Nobody gave him a second glance. Kharem, the professional thief, slipped in and out of strangers’ personal spheres like a gnat through a window screen.

How pickpockets pick victims

“Most important is to figure out where the money is. Pants, jacket, waist pouch, backpack. That man has a fat wallet in his jacket pocket,” the pickpocket said, while the would-be victim was still several yards away. “See how his jacket is hanging unevenly.” He swept his thumbtip across his forehead in that odd gesture of his.

“And this man,” Kharem touched the thigh of a stranger. “He has loose cash. Very good. Very easy.”

Read one of our interviews with Kharem, and about that thumbtip thing.
Read how Kharem steals at the airport.
Read how we first met Angelo in 2004.
Read about Angelo-the-family-celebrity in 2014.
See Angelo in the National Geographic documentary Pickpocket King.

Excerpt from Travel Advisory: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams
Chapter Five: Rip-Offs: Introducing… The Opportunist

Barcelona pickpocket spain thieves

PICKPOCKETS, CON ARTISTS, GANGSTERS, THIEVES, AND TRAVEL

Bag stolen in Barcelona cafe

Bag stolen in Barcelona café

Don’t blame the restaurant—thieves are everywhere!

Keyless car theft, increasing crime

Keyless car theft

Keyless-entry car theft

Try a faraday cage

Pickpockets in Rio — Anti-theft rules

Anti-theft Rules for Rio

How to Protect Yourself from Street Thieves and Muggers

Robbed in Rio

Pickpockets in Rio

Anti-theft Rules for Rio

Survey: Did you file a police report when you were pickpocketed?

Police report survey

Hotel lobby baggage theft

Hotel lobby baggage theft

At midnight, a thief calls

The undetectable impostor infiltrating hotel lobbies

Gang of 11 Pickpockets Stole Mobile Phones

Pickpockets Stole Mobile Phones

Child pickpockets in Europe

Child pickpockets

Europol International Pickpocketing Conference

A Pickpocket’s life story

A pickpocket’s story

Theft by Blocking

Theft by blocking

How pickpockets pick victims

Picking before picking

How pickpockets pick victims

Buy our book of thieves!