Street pickpockets in Italy

Picknick scam in Rome – With a paper or map

Opening: people enjoying the weather in parks with picknicks. They spot people leaving phones and wallets next to them out in the open.

How it works:

They are usually Romanian. They come to you with a piece of paper, or a paper map. Asking for directions or anything else. You often do NOT understand what they say. They do it on purpose. They can perfectly speak Italian, and some English.

They tried to pull it on me. A woman comes over and slides over a paper map. Covering my iPhone, but I was aware of it. So I pushed back and parried her hand away. She tried 2 times and gave up.
So the scam is sliding over the paper, and pickpocket your phone or wallet under the paper, and they are often long gone before you realize it.

How to avoid:

Do place your belongings in the middle of the picnick. Because they will never reach that far. NEVER EVER place it on the corner or in the open.

My personal experience:

They went to the next place, right in front of me. 6 girls sitting there and someone else (not the woman) pulled the same trick. I let It happen, I see him lifting the phone away under the paper. After he did it, I ran towards him and kicked his knee from behind. So he stumbled. The girls still did not realize what happened. The whole park stood up and looking at me. He dropped the phone and ran off. Sad thing is that you often cannot do a lot. Police will show up too late and nothing was lost of stolen eventually. So sooner or later they get burned.

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Playing hide-and-seek

Our guide in Italy told us how she got robbed in an unusual way. She was waiting for someone on a park bench in Rome (I don’t remember the name of the park). The children were playing hide and seek not very far from her. The girl who was a “seeker” with her eyes closed started coming closer to her. The rest of the children at that time started to run around the bench and screaming and shouting. All her attention at that time was on the girl with outstretched arms …

Suddenly she felt that someone was ferreting in her bag, which was almost under her armpit. When she turned around she saw one of the boys looking for something valuable in her bag. In that very minute, the children started running and disappeared quickly. As a result, she did not find her beauty bag (apparently, in a hurry, he decided to take the first thing he got in his hand)

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White Paint Scam

I was walking around the area of Uffizi Gallery in the city centre of Florence with my boyfriend when two women in white robes with their faces and hands all painted white approached us. At first I thought they were street performers. One of them reached out to touch us. My boyfriend thought she wanted to shake his hand so he extended his hand and the woman grabbed it and my boyfriend’s arm was smeared with some of the white paint. Then the woman asked for money.

We were confused. She insisted we pay her but we refused. She did not want to let go and started yelling at us. When my boyfriend finally shook off her grip, the two women chased after us, screaming loudly and yelling. It was terrifying and we had to run away.

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Verona Football Scam

A man will approach you from the street and come very close to you asking if you like football. As you are trying to respond he will pretend to play with you, holding your shoulders and kicking his legs under yours simulating a tussle.

At this point you will be so focussed on what he is doing and so confused at how quickly this situation arose that he will swipe your wallet.

Luckily when this happened to me in Verona, the man took my wallet and just showed it to me, warning me that this was a very common scam and that I should be careful. The fact that it all happened so quickly really took me by surprise and I didn’t even have time to think that he might be looking to steal from me.

Don’t let anyone get too close to you, if they do, step aside and walk away.

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Every book I have says to wear a money belt and warns of all of this

Rick Steves warned me, so I bought his money belt off his site, and have been using it ever since. Not a single issue this way. When I’m out I pull say, €20 or 30 out of the money belt and carry in my pocket. If they get that, so be it. But they won’t get it all and more importantly, won’t get my ID’s, credit cards and passport. I watched a lady dragging THREE bags and a backpack through a Venice piazza, and 2 kids were following behind her. One was taking stuff out of her back pack and handing it to the kid behind him. Oblivious. I almost felt bad for her but, sheesh, she was just willingly giving her stuff away. I travel with a carryon backpack only (another brilliant Rick Steve’s idea, and I bought that from him too) and when I’m somewhere shady, say, on a Rome subway, we stand back to back so no one has access to our packs, and we have a full 360° view of what’s going on around us. She also has a purse that has metal cables in the strap and metal mesh in the purse so that it cannot be cut open.

I did see the classic setup at the Rome subway though. Two women with (fake) babies waiting on train. Subway doors open, they step in and directly to the inside sides of the door leaving just a little room to squeeze through. “Oh they have babies I better go slow and easy” and while you’re squeezing though, person number 3 outside the train is in your pockets as you struggle to get past the other two. I think it should be legal to stick a knife in their hands if you catch them, but if you attack them, you’re the one in trouble. It sucks. But a little common sense goes a long way. A money belt would sense even if there weren’t any pickpockets. Great security.

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Sprouted a third arm from under the fake one

I fell something, looked down and the guy had sprouted a third arm from under the fake one. At first, I was WTF, then I realized he was attempting to rob me. I don’t think he was very good at it as I am told you won’t even know it. I gave him an elbow and he ran off. This was just outside of the coliseum in Rome on a bench.

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Targeted at the Trevi fountain

Take care at train stations and major busy sites. I was targeted at the Trevi fountain. Thankfully I felt the girl at my bag before she got my wallet. An Italian lady who was painting there said these are gypsies. Same happened at Milan train station some years later but again I copped them at my bag. This time 3 girls one carrying a doll in a font baby holder- pretending to be a young mum. My daughter and I shared our carriage with a family from France and the elderly grandad had been robbed of his wallet moments before and was very distressed. Again, gypsies targeting tourists. Makes me angry.

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Roma strategy to distract you

When in Rome, last year, we were on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II near Camp di Fiori waiting for a city bus. 4-5 young Roma women – all carrying a baby or accompanied by several young children milling around them. They also all had an over the shoulder wrap that went around one of their arms so you couldn’t see where or what their hands were doing. They ask for money which I politely declined.

I immediately put my girlfriend behind me so her back was next to the building and I stood in front of her. The women wouldn’t take no as an answer and were persistent. So I stopped being polite and told them very firmly to leave us alone. Still they persisted.

One small child dropped his pants and went to the bathroom right there on the sidewalk. Another women let her blouse slip to expose a breast to nurse the baby she was holding. I viewed all these things as deliberate distractions and my senses were on extra alert. You have to be very careful with them because you don’t know what other males are watching from a short distance away ready to pounce and come to their rescue. You also do not know if one or more is going to whip out a razor and slice you up. They obviously were not going away.

So I took my girlfriend and we walked across the street to get away from them. They started to cross the street also, but decided to go to another bus stop at the end of the block to harass people there. I am familiar with this Roma strategy to distract you while another is actually lifting your wallet or got their hands in your bag.

Another time in Milan, a co-worker and I were dining with several Italian friends. We were taking a stroll after dinner near the Cathedral and the Galleria. My co-worker was walking maybe 5-6 feet in front of me. I was with Italian friends on either sides of me. All of a sudden, several young Roma boys swooped in and bing-bang attacked my co-worker. The Italians leapt in to scare them away, but it was too late.

You wouldn’t believe there was enough time for anything to happen, but they picked my friend clean. Wallet, credit cards, money, air ticket, passport and even his wristwatch – a gift from his father. Another unexpected victim! My co-worker was visually dazed and his only thoughts were to leave Italy and to get back to Vermont. Fortunately, through the company we worked for, I was able to get all his stuff replaced the following day except for his watch. He left and I never saw or heard from him again.

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Throwing newspapers around us

Also be very careful in Rome. especially of the Roma or gypsy children. they do anything to distract you. while taking your belongings. We had a group come up throwing newspapers around us while they tried rob our money belts. The main train station is notorious for pickpockets too.

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2 safety pins

When I travelled around Rome, Venice and Florence I put my wallet in my front pocket. I then secured it with 2 safety pins. I never felt insecure in a crowd like this.

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