r/BeAmazed • u/Admirable-Interest49 • May 13 '26

Skill / Talent Police officer with the pickpocketing skills

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101

u/koolaidismything May 13 '26

Our tour guide in Italy was this chick Fiona.. she was the sweetest. Told my grandpa he’d be ripped off day one cause his dockers pockets hung open and he had cash and wallet hanging out.

He assured her he had traveled the world for work and pick pockets were rare.

Same day wallet got stolen.. thank god I had our passports and travelers checks or we’d have had to pull some strings to get home cause this was back in the day too not recent.

53

u/ItsLoudB May 13 '26

Yeah you don’t come here in Italy with that attitude 😂

Or big cities in Europe in general tbh. A friend of mine got her purse stolen from under our table in Berlin, another got his camera ripped off his neck string in the Czech subway..

18

u/twowheels May 13 '26

Only place I've ever had somebody attempt (that I know of) to pickpocket me was while boarding a train in Spain (I live in the US). I felt somebody pushing up against me from behind like they would in a very crowded situation, but the crowd size didn't warrant the close contact.

Luckily something clicked in my mind and I immediately shot my hand down to my pocket and grabbed a hand. She looked at me like I was the bad one and took off into the crowd.

3

u/WowAbstractAlgebra May 14 '26

I remember some guy sliding his thumb in my pocket while passing by me in Germany. Mf really thought I'd be giving him free money just like that lmfao

1

u/praeteria May 16 '26

He could at least take you out for dinner first before putting his thumbs where they don't belong

12

u/koolaidismything May 13 '26

I remember us going up to two motorcycle police and saying we got pick pocketed and he was like yeah I bet. Didn’t even flinch. We looked like dumbasses and kinda were lol. Poor guy was always so trusting, I never was luckily. That was in Rome too. Florence was a lot different I loved it there we spent a week and no one had any issues other than we didn’t wanna leave there to hit the next spot lol

8

u/BeginningAd4658 May 13 '26

Not even pickpockets, in Athens 7 I think Albanians came up to me and my friends claiming to be undercover cops demanding our passports. When we said no they tried to grab us.

2

u/Corytrever187 May 13 '26

Which is part of the problem. No police enforcement means they're free to get away with it.

4

u/ItsLoudB May 13 '26

What is the police gonna do about it? There’s thousand of people in tourists spots in Italy at any moment and constantly changing, are they supposed to go check everyone for your wallet?

Especially in Rome. Imagine Times Square but in multiple spots across the city centre. It’s hell and that’s why us Italian rarely go there unless someone visiting begs us.

Covid had many downsides but it was the only time we were allowed to be tourists in our own country when the borders were closed lol.

1

u/koolaidismything May 13 '26

Guide explained a few of the scams and the one that probably got us and made sense.. next to impossible to bust them back then, no cameras everywhere.

1

u/Chaotic-Genes May 13 '26

I'm sure grandpa learned some valuable insight but hate to hear it even having to be a concern while on vacation

1

u/PoseidonIsDaddy May 13 '26

There’s few pickpockets in the United States because it may carry the death penalty.

1

u/The_Mockers May 16 '26

Florence. Was doing a bus tour with lots of young people. Befriended a couple. They went in to an Internet cafe to print some documents. I am standing at the door enjoying the weather. A guy walks in. I barely notice him except I see him walk out less than 30 seconds later, which seemed odd. Turned out he had swiped the girls passport off the table between BOTH of them by laying a piece of paper on top of it and then lifting it. They didn’t even realize it.

1

u/HnNaldoR May 13 '26

I knew people that had things stolen from cities considered extremely safe.

Copenhagen, I am not going to try to spell it but the capital of Iceland, Tokyo, Taipei. And they are the people that literally had 0 sense. Left their phones hanging out in crowded touristy areas. And literally walked around engrossed in conversation or just happily taking photos and have 0 sense of anything around them. I don't know... I don't even blame the pickpockets. Even I could steal from them.

3

u/AfuckinOwl May 13 '26

What was your grandpa's reaction?

3

u/koolaidismything May 13 '26

He was positive about it and you’d have never guessed he lost all his cards and ID lol. He was a good dude never really got upset about anything was always calm.

2

u/twitchyv May 13 '26

I was traveling Europe solo when I was 18-20 and to this day I think that’s the one singular thing my PTSD was good for because once I was alseep in a small airport during a layover and had this anxious feeling wake me up to discover some dude trying to steal my luggage and then like 5 other times I felt like a shift in energy and caught someone’s hand when they were trying to steal my phone/purse. Hahaha. Thanks trauma (I guess) lmao

1

u/Rhg0653 May 14 '26

That chest strap thingy for travel is a good investment