How to Avoid Being a Victim of a Pockpocket

Introduction:

Recently, I was on a trip to Barcelona, Spain. And, I know that there are pickpockets ready to take advantage of unsuspecting people. The best defense for any of these situations involves preparation and situational awareness.

Preparation:

Never have anything readily available to a pickpocket that you are not ready to have taken from you. Here are some things I do for preparation.

Clothing:

My preparation starts with I am wearing. Whether wearing shorts or long pants, I always were ones that have a belt. I wear a shirt tucked into the pants and will stay tucked into the pants, secured by the belt. The choice for these are clear below.

What to bring and what to not bring:

I minimize what I carry with me on this particular excursion. I try to bring only the necessary money, credit cards, or ID needed on this current excursion. If I do not need it, I do not bring it.

Travel wallet:

As for carrying what I do bring, I have a “travel wallet”. This is a foldable cloth wallet with a string that can go around my neck. If I am not carrying my passport, it folds up to the size of a wallet. If I have my passport or phone, it can unfold to carry one or both of those.

A growing problem with credit card theft is RF scanners. But, travel wallets are now readily available with built-in “RFID” secuity features, blocking RF scanners. So, my travel wallet of choice has this feature.

I am not promoting any brand or encouraging you to purchase any partcular model or style of wallet. The image below is the one I use because it is large enought to hold money, my passport, my Andoid phone, change (coins), and still small enough for placement as described in the section below.

Travel Wallet Placement:

As for travel wallet placement, I put the string for this travel wallet around the back of my neck and the wallet down the front of my shirt – on the inside, between my skin and the shirt. I also slide the wallet to the side (my preference is the right side) so that it rests on top of the belt and is between my ribcage and my elbow. This is a very inconspicuous place for the wallet, is hard to see that there is a wallet there, and would be a very difficult place to access for a pickpocket. In otherwords, there would be a fight for them to get to that location.

The reason behind the choice of clothing – with the wallet being secured above the belt, below the shirt, and between my ribcage and my elbow – should now be clear.

Preparation Summary:

With the above preparations, I am able to have absolutely nothing in any external pocket that a pickpocket can take. So, even if a pickpocket were to try to steal something, there was nothing for them to steal.

Situational Awareness:

Pay attention to your surroundings.

The Scenario:

In my case, for this particular encounter – My wife, I, and two friends rode the crowded, standing-room only subway in Barcelona. We had already traveled the subway system for several days with no problems.

The “Encounter”:

However, on one day, I felt fingers sliding into my left front pocket. I grabbed the hand and squeezed it with everything I could muster and extracted the hand from my pocket. As I lifted the hand and looked at where it came from, a woman looked back at me. I “gave her back” her hand and she pulled her hand out of a “sock”.

By “sock” I mean something like one of the large knitted socks that people put on golf clubs… but this had a hole at both ends… one end for her arm (all the way to the bicep) and one end open for her hand. I assume this was so she could grab whatever she was steeling and pull it into the sock quickly (to hide it) and walk away. However, she pretended to be apologetic – all the while displaying her hand sticking out of the pickpocketer’s “sock” – but, also immediately took two steps backward and stepped off the train as the doors closed.

Additional Situational Awareness Item:

Often, pickpockets work in teams… one being the distraction while another does the “real” work. I made sure she was not just the distraction for another accomplice. Seeing none, I considered the matter closed. Nothing was stolen, and – because of the preparation and situational awareness – the vacation continued none the worse for ware.

Lessons:

There are some people who will who always try to take advantage of others, especially of those who are unprepared.

Prepare yourself and maintain situational awareness.

Do not let yourself be a victim.