

The lost art of pickpockets - yummyfajitas
http://www.slate.com/id/2286010/pagenum/all/

======
mechanical_fish
_Those who have no stomach for violence can eke out a living snatching cell
phones on the subway, which are much easier to convert to cash than stolen
credit cards..._

At first I thought this was a fake semantic distinction, but now I see:
Snatching is not the same as pickpocketing, because the mark helpfully takes
out the most valuable item they own and _holds_ it in prime stealing position
for you, instead of concealing it in a pocket.

So this seems like the obvious reason why pickpocketing is dying: We've made
it too easy. The most easily-fenced, most valuable object I carry is also one
which I am very likely to take out and juggle as I wander through crowded
places.

Here's where a better article would have coupled the stats on pickpockets with
actual stats on public theft and other petty crimes, including things like ATM
skimming. (Of course, I believe that all of these things are declining in
absolute terms.)

~~~
makmanalp
My mother taught me never to take out valuables, especially money, in crowded
public places. Isn't this a common teaching, such as "never cross the road
without checking for cars"?

~~~
anateus
In most parts of the US such lessons are rare. I grew up in the Middle East
where I learned similar lessons. To many here's unthinkable that one can't
just leave their bag lying next to them, or some such.

Heck, outside of the cities many people here don't even lock their doors.

~~~
kingsley_20
Same lessons from India, so I think it's a developing world thing. Or maybe
even a high-income-disparity-culture thing?

~~~
frobozz
I think it's a high density thing. Same lessons in Western Europe.

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iwwr
_thanks to enhanced security features, it's harder for thieves to use stolen
credit or debit cards than it was in the past._

The pickpockets just moved into technology: card skimming, phishing or general
ID theft. Back in the day, you could lose your wallet, now you can get your
bank account cleaned and a destroyed credit rating.

------
there
i bet the proliferation of skinny jeans is to blame. the person wearing the
jeans can barely get their own hand in their pocket, how's a pickpocket
supposed to do it undetected?

~~~
sp_
I can confirm this first hand. Two pickpockets tried to get my stuff in
Barcelona. One had his hand in my left pocket with my cell phone, the other
one in the right pocket with my wallet and passport.

Sorry, folks, but my jeans pockets are like monkey traps. If you grab anything
in there you won't be able to get your hand out. They pickpockets figured that
out quickly and ran off without any loot. Tight jeans saved my vacation.

~~~
kirubakaran
Gradual castration victim or easy pickpocket victim? Tradeoffs, tradeoffs...

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softbuilder
>the New York Times reported that there were 23,068 reported pickpocketing
incidents in the city in 1990, amounting to nearly $10 million in losses.

That's over $400 per incident. Either people carry a hell of a lot of cash on
them or there are some outliers with some interesting stories to tell.

~~~
ricree
The fact that it's the average for reported incidents probably cuts out a lot
of the outliers on the low end of the scale.

~~~
jhamburger
That and the fact that people probably exaggerate the loss for insurance
purposes.

Also, pickpockets and muggers are likely to profile their targets-
Traditionally this would have been the wealthy, counterintuitively it's now
the poor: People without credit cards and/or bank accounts, and immigrants
paid in cash who are forced to walk or bike home from work through a bad
neighborhood in the dark with an entire week's pay in their pocket.

------
harold
Back in '08 or so I was at Disneyland. A woman bumped in to me after getting
off the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Then she bumped into me again at the
turnstyle going out where people back up a bit. I remember thinking she was
rude.

When I got outside, a person mentioned my wallet was about to fall out of my
back pocket. Never having my wallet fall out like that, before or since, I've
always wondered if the rude lady was an inept pickpocket, practicing in a
place where the pickings are probably easy and disappearing in the crowd is
effortless on a busy day.

~~~
jmah
It sounds like she grabbed you wallet, took (or planted) whatever, and then
put it back...

~~~
throwawayadvice
I can imagine her taking cash but what would she plant?

~~~
achompas
Drugs? Someone else's stolen cards or ID?

~~~
lotusleaf1987
Who is giving out free drugs?

~~~
achompas
Someone who needs to ditch them before they're caught? I dunno, trying to get
creative here.

------
christkv
Barcelona is damn bad for pickpocketing so watch yourself if you are in town
and look around you for potential thieves. Be especially vary of people who
are very nicely dresses as it's a normal rouse to dress sharply so you have
your guard down. Also a jacket casually over the arm can be a sign that they
are looking for quick dives into open handbags etc. I usually just assume an
agressive posture and look around. If you don't look like an easy mark or more
like someone who could potentially fight back they will target someone else.

Being Spanish and living here for the last 3 years I have never been
pickpocketed or robbed but know a lot of people that it has happened to and
especially people visiting.

So if you come to Barcelona, always walk with your wallet in the front pocket,
carry a bag in front of you on escalators or on the metro and if you are, two
keep an eye on each others back and you won't have to run to the consulate for
a new passport and deal with canceling all your cards.

~~~
GreenNight
And when entering the subway if there's a crowd to enter at your door let them
enter first or go to another. I saw someone getting pickpocketed this way in
Barcelona, and a friend was pickpocketed like this in London.

------
forinti
This reminded me of a nice article on the decline of burglary in the UK:
<http://www.economist.com/node/2709203?story_id=2709203>

Except, of course, crime is only cool if you're not the victim.

------
araneae
We're supposed to be sad about this?

I mean, sure, if it were being replaced with more violent thievery that would
be bad, but crime has been dipping across the board.

~~~
Semiapies
It's a romantic post, hence the references to all the fictional depictions of
pickpockets. It's very much of a piece with the heroes of caper films - people
don't normally root for crooks, but the idea of a nonviolent, clever crook who
puts a lot of work into perfecting what he does appeals to people.

------
Jun8
""It requires a certain amount of skill, finesse, cleverness, and planning,
and the patience to do all that isn't there" among American young people."

So, it seems, in addition to hard science, we're getting our asses kicked in
the pickpocketing area too!

~~~
metageek
We'll have to start issuing H1 visas to import pickpockets.

------
jpv
Has anyone read The Great Train Robbery by Crichton? It talks about all sorts
of stuff like this, except in Victorian era England. Great book.

[http://www.amazon.com/Great-Train-Robbery-Michael-
Crichton/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Train-Robbery-Michael-
Crichton/dp/0061706493)

~~~
michaelbuckbee
Yes, it reads like a Victorian Era Oceans 11. One of the biggest things I
remember about it was that they didn't even consider doing anything but
stealing the keys to the safe. It wasn't "pickable" given their technology
level, explosives weren't powerful enough to open it and it was massive enough
to make brute force measures infeasible.

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Xurinos
I found this a very interesting read (look for responses by "pocketed" for one
pickpocketer's viewpoint and strategies):

[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/bxy7x/per_request_iama...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/bxy7x/per_request_iama_pickpocket_ama/)

My biggest takeaway: People do not pay attention. I was taught at a young age
to pay attention to my surroundings, and I cannot help but notice how easy it
is to walk normally on a sidewalk and surprise people with my presence. People
are just plain distracted. In other words, for someone like this, they are
easy marks, easy prey.

------
shazow
Luckily there's no shortage of other creative thefts in much of Europe.

Here's a story how my girlfriend and travel partner got covered in sludge as
part of an elaborate diversion to steal her backpack with over $2,000 worth of
stuff.

[http://shazow.posterous.com/find-yourself-covered-in-
slime-y...](http://shazow.posterous.com/find-yourself-covered-in-slime-youre-
being-mu)

Think this is worth posting to HN as a submission?

~~~
damoncali
That exact method was used on a friend of mine in Spain not too long ago. She
was walking down the street, found herself covered in something that seemed
like vomit, and then being assisted by Spanish "gentlemen". A minute later,
she had no purse, no passport, no money, and no phone. Ouch.

Distressingly clever distraction, I would say.

------
pinchyfingers
Coincidentally, John Dvorak was just pick pocketed in Madrid:
<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380787,00.asp>

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smackfu
Pickpockets always make me think of the Roald Dahl story, The Hitch-Hiker.

~~~
shrikant
Link to story:
[http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:un_MdjwjvxkJ:w...](http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:un_MdjwjvxkJ:www.daltonvoorburg.nl/file/5150/1068724107/The%2BHitchhiker.doc)

The two-column view may be a bit of a downer, but then one could always
download the Word document...

------
gnosis
Watch Bob Arno (who's quoted in the article) ply the trade:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_bsbL74YaE>

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celias
Reminds me of this Moth Radio Hour episode <http://www.themoth.org/radio_205>
You can listen to the piece on the prx site after signing up for an account
<http://www.prx.org/pieces/47406-moth-radio-hour-205>

------
kragen
If anyone is really nostalgic for this, I recommend they come to Buenos Aires.
We have some of the best pickpockets in the world! I had my laptop stolen in
2007, and I know a couple of people who've had their wallets stolen.

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neutronicus
It seems like the drug trade and pickpocketing are in competition for young
labor, maybe that's part of it?

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sleight42
I'll be that guy.

What is this doing on HN? This isn't technical. This isn't about startups.

------
stretchwithme
I wonder if "Clever Tricks Rapists Use" is next.

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zemanel
it's pretty much alive and i have no wallet to prove it (was pickpocketed last
week, 70% sure of it)

