Pickpockets danger signs · Danger signs in Pickpockets
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Danger signs in Pickpockets
Danger signs in Pickpockets
There may be pickpockets anywhere, but some things are signs of higher risk:
other people who prey on tourists (beggars, touts or prostitutes)
crowded areas, especially places like bus and train stations as there are lots of potential victims, noise provides cover, and the thief can disappear into the crowd easily.
areas where you are obvious, perhaps because you look very different from locals or dress and behave quite differently
areas where the local income is low, as a traveler's pocket money may be more than local monthly income.
Traditional open air markets, especially those selling handicrafts in developing countries, combine many of the above risk factors and are often infested with pickpockets. A more modern place is around ATM's. Someone coming from them has money and an observer can watch where the money is put away.
Psychological experiments have shown that we tend to overestimate our ability to know if we are being pickpocketed. True, if someone approaches you from in front and reaches for your pocket, you can avoid them, but awareness threshold is usually much lower. In a crowd, for instance, your tolerance for being jostled will go up automatically and you will literally not feel it if someone reaches into your pocket. It is possible to cultivate alertness to counteract this, but it takes a real effort. If you are in a high-risk area and are not feeling somewhat jumpy, you probably are not trying hard enough.
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Pickpockets Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.