Rome Rome pickpockets

[konradd]

I was just in Rome and unfortunately was pickpocketed on the metro close to Termini station
The metro was packed. They got my passport credit card cash health information etc.I had a vest on and the wallet was zipped in the pocket by my arms and chest.Never thought it would happen to me
Please make sure your documents are in the inside of your clothing not the outside
The police insisted it was lost! Another couple from the UK had a wallet stolen from the jeans front pocket
Thankfully our embassy was close by
Beware!

 

[Tina]

So sorry to hear that Konradd, I hope you have managed to get everything sorted

 

[TomandKathy]

I had a similar thing happen in Paris. So sorry for you but my experience showed me I had been getting a little slack about security. The cities in Europe are all very dangerous for pickpockets. please everyone take note that valuables (if you MUST carry them) must be inside, right on your person, and you must be aware of where they are at all times, especially on trains and busses and in crowded places. I think mine was taken in a queue in a cafe as I moved to let someone walk through... sigh. Don't trust anyone - my husband almost had his pocket picked by what looked like a nice old couple on the train in Athens... fortunately he keeps his wallet on a chain attached to his belt.

 

[Ian Sutton]

The cities in Europe are all very dangerous for pickpockets.

From my experience, it's right to be very wary in the most heavily touristed cities, but very much wrong to tar all European cities with the same brush.

 

[TomandKathy]

I take your point Ian, but since most cities seem to have a rather large number of tourists these days I think it's wise for people to learn to be careful. Personal experiences and those of friends taught me this. Not just Europe of course, but people do seem to be more aware and careful in Asia. I think anyone walking about with a wallet in a jeans pocket or valuables in a shoulder bag in a busy area or on crowded public transport is asking for trouble (except in Japan which is astoundingly safe).

 

[Alpinista]

Couple things I immediately thought of:

In Ecuador, one of my climbing companions had an expensive camera slung around her neck. A guy made a very clumsy grab for the camera and we chased him off. It was a minute later when she realized that his accomplice had sliced open the bottom of her day pack and dumped her money, documents, and plane tickets into his hands.

My very first trip to Rome, a teenage girl stepped in front of me and pulled up her shirt. While I was doing the gawk, my wife's hand immediately went to cover my wallet and I got a lecture from my wife on both decorum and pickpockets.

A friend of mine had a snatch and grab of her arm-slung pocketbook by a guy on a motor scooter when in Naples.

We make very obvious targets -- lots of care and attention needed to stay safe regardless of country (only place I was ever personally robbed was NYC).

 

[Parigi]

How horrible. My heart sinks just reading your post.
Unfortunately all the major cities of Europe are plaqued by such petty crime.
I live in Paris and luckily have not been picpocketed, despite a few close calls.
The pickpockets are very aggressive. A young girl kicked my niece-in-law to divert her attention and picked all her cash. Sigh, I had told my nephew and niece that for their first trip to Paris, just take a taxi to city center and not risk public transport which has a big concentration of pickpockets, while exhausted travelers are vulnerable targets. AND especially. not carry cash on their body. Sigh. It's as though they thought my advicieii was a code, and that they should do all the contrary. They took the notorious RER+metro, and for some insane reasons carried all, ALL, their cash on their trousers' back pocket. And they got a tattoo "PLEASE ROB ME". -- No they didn't, but might as well.
A friend, an elderly gentleman, a new immigrant to England, who did not speak very good English, nearly got pickpocketed in a restaurant. An elegant couple passed by their table and the lady briefly put her coat on the back of my friend's wife's chair, and then continued on, picking up her coat AND the bag hanging on the chair under the coat.
My friend saw it and yelled out the key words in his Emergency English : "I AM THE BAG !!" The couple dropped the bag and hurried away, acting as though they were unrelated to anything happening. When he told me the story later, this friend was full of regret and embarrassment, wishing he had spoken better English, instead of Silly Emergency English. He asked us what would have been the correct thing to say.
I reassured him he had said and done all the right things: he yelled, which got the entire restaurant's attention, and he did get all the key words out. No time to worry about grammar and vocab and subject-verb agreement !