Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco

Street pickpockets in Italy

Last updated on 19 Jun 2019
Italy
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How it works:

  • Version 1: they work in a gang – one onlooker, one blocks, pushes, distracts, or engages you, one grabs and the final hides the loot under a cover (e.g. jacket/newspaper) and escapes.
  • Version 2: a bunch of gypsy kids rush into you or wave something (e.g. newspaper, cardboard, paper, map, etc) to distract you while another strikes.
  • Version 3: gypsy girls present a pizza box (or map, survey or anything) under your nose. This blocks your vision below and their accomplices will swoop in for your wallet.
  • Version 4: breastfeeding a baby in an exposed way to catch your attention, or throwing a doll resembling a baby, wrapped up in a blanket, at you.
  • Version 5: bird poo scam.
  • Version 6: petition charity scam.
  • Version 7: shell game scam.
  • Version 8: football trick (see story by SamDixon below)
  • Version 9: gypsies painted in white (see story by Syringee below)

Places to beware:

  • Amalfi Coast: Centro Storico Salerno
  • Bari: Basilica San Nicola, Citta Vecchia – Bari
  • Bologna: Piazza Maggiore, Quadrilatero, Via dell’Indipendenza, Via Zamboni, Via dell’Indipendenza, Via Farini, Galleria Cavour, Piazza Maggiore, Fontana del Nettuno
  • Cinque Terre: Cinque Terre Trails, Footpath Monterosso – Vernazza, Parco Nazionale Cinque Terre, Vernazza, Borgo Storico di Manarola
  • Florence: Uffizi Galleries, Piazzale Michelangelo, Duomo – Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Piazza del Duomo, Accademia Gallery, Basilica di Santa Croce, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Signoria, Cupola del Brunelleschi, Campanile di Giotto, Mercato Centrale, Basilica San Miniato al Monte, Ponte Vecchio, Museo di San Marco, Battistero di San Giovanni, Church of Santa Maria Novella, Centro Storico, Loggia dei Lanzi Piazza della Repubblica, Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio, Basilica della Santissima Annunziata – Chiesa di Santa Maria della Scala
  • Genoa: Cattedrale di San Lorenzo – Duomo di Genova, Piazza Raffaele De Ferrari
  • Milan: Duomo di Milano, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Castello Sforzesco, La Scala Opera, Duomo Rooftops, I Navigli, Brera District, Monumental Cemetery, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro), Piazza del Duomo, Parco Sempione, Duomo Museum, Milano Centrale, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II
  • Naples: Museo Cappella Sansevero, Catacombe di San Gennaro, Via San Gregorio Armeno, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Spaccanapoli, Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara, Vesuvio, Castel dell’Ovo, Toledo (Stazione della Metropolitana dell’Arte), Duomo di Napoli, Piazza del Plebiscito, Centro Storico, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Via dei Tribunali, Quartieri Spagnoli, Piazza Garibaldi
  • Palermo: Norman Palace and Palatine Chapel, Teatro Massimo, Quattro Canti, Mercato Ballaro, Mercato del Capo, La Vuccira
  • Rome: Pantheon, Galleria Borghese, Trevi Fountain, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Trastevere, Piazza Navona, Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo, Arcibasilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, Centro Storico, San Pietro in Vincoli, Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Piazza Venezia, Terme di Caracalla, Le Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini, Santa Maria in Trastevere, Piazza Venezia, Terme di Caracalla, La Pieta, Le Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini, Santa Maria in Trastevere, Altare Della Patria, Piazza del Popolo, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Abbazia di San Paolo Fuori Le Mura, Piazza del Campidoglio, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Basilica Papale San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Piazza di Spagna, Mercati di Traiano – Museo dei Fori Imperiali, Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Monte Pincio, Ponte Sant’Angelo, Via del Corso, Spanish Steps, Campo de’ Fiori, National Roman Museum – The Baths of Diocletian, Scala Santa and Chapel of San Lorenzo, Foro di Augusto
  • Sorrento: Piazza Tasso
  • Venice: Doge’s Palace, Canal Grande, Basilica di San Marco, St. Mark’s Square, Campanile di San Marco, Teatro La Fenice, Cannaregio, Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Ponte di Rialto, Actv Venezia, Ponte dei Sospiri, Torre dell’Orologio, Punta della Dogana, Centro Storico di Venezia, Mercati di Rialto, Carnival of Venice, Ponte dell’Accademia, Riva degli Schiavoni
  • Verona: Portoni della Bra, Porta Borsari, via venti settembre

What to do:

  • Passport: carry a photocopy instead of the actual one.
  • Valuables: wallet in front pocket, small valuables in a money belt/hidden pouch, large valuables in an anti-theft bag.
  • Travel insurance: get a good one that covers theft (e.g. World Nomads, trusted by Lonely Planet and National Geographic – review).

Tell us your story




6 user stories related to this scam

Start over

Picknick scam in Rome – With a paper or map

  SyfCap   23 Jun 2019   2   0

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.

Comment

Playing hide-and-seek

  Galina-SGV   22 Jun 2019   2   0

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)

Comment

White Paint Scam

  Syringee   18 Jun 2019   2   0

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.

Comment

Verona Football Scam

  SamDixon32   13 Jun 2019   2   1

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.

Comment

2 safety pins

  Stephen   30 Apr 2017   2   0

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.

Comment

Shouting pickpocket trick

  Kieran   16 Nov 2016   3   1

Common scam I’ve seen in heavily populated tourist areas during the summer season is for a ‘scammer’ to shout “PICKPOCKET!”. The natural response is for everyone to check if their wallet/valuables are still in the right place, they are for now. Well done guys. You just alerted all the scammers in the area where your valuables are, and they know where and who to target!

Comment

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