Windows Mobile 6.5 demo phone stolen at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
byMessage to Telsta executive pickpocket victim: don’t beat yourself up. It happens to lots of visitors to Barcelona. So many, that events are starting…
Message to Telsta executive pickpocket victim: don’t beat yourself up. It happens to lots of visitors to Barcelona. So many, that events are starting…
I wonder if Bob and I should have bodyguards, like Roberto Saviano does. We, like Saviano, write about and expose the Camorra, Naples’ infamous…
A few days ago, a foreigner arrived at Mexico City’s international airport and exchanged money there. What he didn’t know was that he was…
Way back on July 7, 2008, I wrote that the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet interviewed Bob Arno, and I promised a link when available. The…
In Johannesburg for a string of corporate shows, we managed to find and talk to three pickpockets, one of whom claimed to be reformed….
Bob and I looked at each other in disbelief. Only we knew the incredible odds we’d just beaten. To stroll into Rome’s Termini, the…
What is a perfect pickpocket victim? Let’s look at the anatomy of a pickpocket victim. I’m thinking of a couple I saw in Barcelona…
Lord and Lady Ball (yes, their real names), enjoyed a week in warm Palma de Mallorca, an annual retreat from the dreary London weather….
Bob Arno, the go-to guy on street scams, was on the NBC Weekend Today show on November 22. He was on Fox & Friends…
Stung by a Wasp: Scooter-Riding Bandits Buzz Bob and Bambi I didn’t think it could happen to me. There was no forewarning. One moment…
Over-confidence is the enemy of travelers in unfamiliar lands. The know-it-all risks loss and embarrassment. Henry started his story with the wistful remark we’ve…
Sandy and Frances thought little of the gaggle of girls who flopped onto the bench they were resting on. There were more girls than…
Adrian has been a living statue on Barcelona’s Ramblas for two years. He was a chef in Romania before, and part owner of a…
To a pair of pickpockets in London, Lionel Skidmore looked like an easy target. The thieves mounted a bus, then immediately turned and got…
The crotch-walk was demonstrated, just before a strip-tease, at the Virginia Retail Loss Prevention Conference last week. We do get to see some oddball…
It was Cecily’s dream vacation: she and her family had rented an ancient stone farmhouse near St.-Paul-de-Vence on the French Riviera. Recently renovated to…
Rome, Italy—Termini Station serves up buses, trains, and the subway. Four long rows of ticket machines busily dispense tickets and confound travelers. Traffic is…
Panama City, Panama—Bob asked one of our Panama police escorts what serious crimes against tourists had occurred recently. The officer stunned us with a…
Panama City, Panama—Angel lives in the school building with his mother and assorted siblings. Aha! So that’s who’d done all the neat laundry hanging…
Panama City, Panama—Bob and I had come to Panama as guests of the national and local police departments and the Panama National Hotel Association….
Panama City, Panama—As Bob and Angel spoke, a tall, handsome boy appeared dribbling a basketball. Soon he was part of our interview. His name…
Panama City, Panama—Too much laundry was hung too neatly on a wire line stretched across the broken schoolyard. This boy can’t be that industrious,…
Panama City, Panama—Angel Sanchez is trying to stay clean. Neither crack nor speed produces the high he craves. At 23, Angel is trying to…
Were you waiting with bated breath for the promised pictures of the Russian ice cream seller and the stolen credit cards she retrieved from…
Caught-in-the-act criminals aren’t always keen on conversation. “Why I should talk to you!” some say. We’ve been threatened with rocks, hit, spit upon, flipped…
A Thief on Thieves Conning Criminals into Conversation Las Vegas — Who said it takes a thief to know a thief? The Tall Swede…
The Bolshoi Bandits and the Crosswalk Czar In which Bob Arno and his fancy accessory spy on the Russians. St. Petersburg, Russia— I was…
Pickpockets in St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, a few weeks later—We loaded ourselves with video equipment this time, and headed straight for the Metro corner….
St. Petersburg— “They think I robbed you,” he said. By then it must have been obvious to the cops that we were not Mohammed’s…
St. Petersburg—Pseudo-cops!” we thought: bandits who pretend to be police. We’re about to be robbed! At the same time, I thought: no, we’re about…