Be Wary Of Pickpockets, Thieves When Traveling
In 1996, Hungarian police recorded 15,988 thefts and pickpocketings of foreigners. Poland reported 6,400.
In Prague, 6,685 were registered in the first nine months of 1996. In the first half of 1996, 1,116 travelers had valuables stolen while entering or leaving the United Kingdom. Travelers at U.S. airports and attractions are equally vulnerable.
Many of the victims were older travelers.
“These crooks think a younger person might dash after them,” says Jens Jurgen, publisher of a 24-page booklet on how to foil travel-related crimes and scams. “Also, older people tend to be more trusting, based on earlier times when things were safer.”
Jurgen, 62, began investigating pickpockets’ and other thieves’ ingenious methods after thieves almost made off with a carry-on bag containing his passport, airline tickets and rail pass in the arrivals concourse of Germany’s Frankfurt airport six years ago.
Pickpockets love crowds, Jurgen says. They find their victims at airports and railway stations; on public subways and buses; busy streets and intersections; in hotel lobbies; on elevators and escalators; at automatic teller machines and in lines at banks. They haunt cathedrals, museums, and even airline check-in counters and airport security X-ray and metal-detector points.
The criminals may look like well-dressed grandmothers, businessmen, cute children or fellow travelers. Jurgen has even heard of thieves wearing a stolen airline pilot’s uniform or security guard attire, or posing as porters.
The criminals almost always work in teams, he says. A favorite method is the “stall-and-dip.” One crook, the stall, distracts you while his partner dips into your pocket or walks off with your bag. Common distractions are asking for directions or the time of day, dropping coins, slopping food or drink on you or your bags and offering to help clean up, or staging a fight or accident.
Jurgen’s booklet also covers purse snatchings, ATM and telephone card scams, credit card fraud, and other crimes against travelers, as well as what to do if you are robbed.
Among the strategies he recommends to foil these criminals:
Keep your money, travelers checks, passport, tickets and other valuables on your person, but not all in one place. Jurgen discusses the various types of hidden pouches, money belts and travel clothing with hidden pockets. Carry a purse with a strap worn diagonally across your body, and on the non-street side of the sidewalk.
Make photocopies of your passport and visas, credit cards, tickets and medical and eyeglass prescriptions. Keep one set elsewhere in your baggage and leave another with a relative or friend at home. Bring extra passport photos.
Try not to look like a rich tourist. Don’t slap stickers from previous vacation spots on your luggage. Pack lightly enough that you can carry all your luggage yourself if need be. Leave expensive jewelry at home.
Try to dress like a local rather than a tourist. Carry a local language magazine or newspaper, or tote your camera and purse in a local supermarket bag.
Put travel documents and valuables in a hotel safe. Take with you only one credit card and the cash you estimate you’ll need that day.
Don’t advertise to criminals by putting video cameras, purses or other valuables in your car trunk in a busy parking lot, or being obvious about where you put your billfold at an ATM, bank or currency exchange.
In strange cities, have the hotel concierge or another local mark on a map areas that it may be prudent to avoid, particularly after dark.
xxxx