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I went into a convenience store to prepay for gas just before taking a rental car back to the airport. It was a bad area and I was wired going in. I headed toward the cooler to get an iced tea while filling up. two young men came up to me. The short guy said, "Where are you going?" The tall guy went behind me and reached for my wallet in my left rear pocket.
I turned and grabbed his right hand with my right hand and brought it around in front of me. There was a column in front of me and I drove the tall guy's head as hard as I could into the column. With my left hand I grabbed his left trouser cuff and brought it up to shoulder height. He went face first onto the floor and did not move.
I said to the little guy, "You picked on the wrong old man azzhole" and took a step toward him. He turned and ran out the back door. The tall guy wan't moving so I went out the front, got into the rental car and drove off to find a better place to buy gas.
The surveillance video is probably used at a police academy somewhere.
Put both your phone and your wallet in the front pockets of your trousers and there is no way in hell something could happen.
The front pocket of your trousers is far safer than the back pockets, but not pickpocket-proof by any means. The person in my group who was successfully pickpocketed had his money lifted from the front pocket of his trousers.
(The front pocket of a shirt and the inside breast pocket of a jacket aren't safe from a skilled pickpocket, either. The pickpokets of Europe do this stuff for a living, folks, and they are GOOD at what they do!)
Thank God, I have never been a victim of pickpocketing, but I know of people who have. It's devastating, especially if you're on a fixed budget during your trip. I'm very careful, but not paranoid about my personal effects. I'm a petite female and I tend to walk with a 'Don't F with me confidence' and I reckon that works a lot.
The island is safe, I did my research & not one time did I feel threatened. That was my decision & it worked out great. Thanks for your concern.
Oddly enough, the small out of the way places that novice travelers are afraid to visit are generally safer than the big cities they flock to. I gues the locals get so few visitors they're more interested in learning about them than ripping them off!
The front pocket of your trousers is far safer than the back pockets, but not pickpocket-proof by any means. The person in my group who was successfully pickpocketed had his money lifted from the front pocket of his trousers.
(The front pocket of a shirt and the inside breast pocket of a jacket aren't safe from a skilled pickpocket, either. The pickpokets of Europe do this stuff for a living, folks, and they are GOOD at what they do!)
The pickpockets of the good ol' USA are pretty good at it too. My husband had his wallet stolen from his front pants pocket as we were getting off the El in Chicago. He never knew it happened until he went to get his wallet a few minutes later and realized it had been stolen.
How it happened was apparently there was a team of bad guys -- one created a diversion as passengers were getting off the El by pretending to have his foot stuck in the door, meanwhile the other one grabbed my husband's wallet (and maybe other people's wallets in the confusion too).
I'm always very careful about carrying cash and credit cards etc while traveling, but my husband was very casual about these things. I guess he assumed his front pocket was safe, but it turned out he was wrong.
No. Never. I use common sense and universal precautions. My valuables are never accessible to strangers.
But is the concern with getting ripped off and losing MONEY or is it with getting accosted and possibly injured in the process, the amount of money being secondary?
Anyone can use a money belt - that doesn't mean you won't get knocked down and your "NOT" valuables stolen!
I live in Orlando. I can spot a tourist a mile away. They are pasty white or wearing belly bags or wearing EU football or rugby shirts or wearing Euro style shoes or in the case of the women, wearing bad bras or being all excited about being in the Florida Mall or wearing shorts and t-shirts when it's 60 out (and Floridians are dressed like Eskimos)or following a tour guide waving a little flag or all dressed in the same tour group shirt or any number of other dead giveaways.
Sometimes we can blend in. Other times not even close.
But is the concern with getting ripped off and losing MONEY or is it with getting accosted and possibly injured in the process, the amount of money being secondary?
Well, this thread was started to ask about pickpocketing, and pickpockets are usually stealthy rather than violent, so the former is the major concern as far as the thread is concerned.
But you're right that protecting your valuables isn't the same as protecting your person! And that's a potential drawback to using a cross-body bag (especially if it's reenforced with a cable in the strap to make it slash-proof): if a purse-snatcher DOES grab it and run, you could be easily pulled over and possibly injured (especially if you're frail or elderly).
Sorry folks, there are no 100% safe and effective methods of protection out there. But even with all its "dangers," travel still beats sitting at home!
Oddly enough, the small out of the way places that novice travelers are afraid to visit are generally safer than the big cities they flock to. I gues the locals get so few visitors they're more interested in learning about them than ripping them off!
I generally agree. I have almost always felt completely safe in smaller cities and villages. Kotor after dark was an exception.
Pickpockets generally like to avoid detection and confrontation. They usually work in crowded areas--outside the Colosseum and at the Trevi Fountain in Rome and any crowded train terminal (Gare Du Nord in Paris) are classic spots. They also like to work in places where people typically let down their guard--churches like Notre Dame and St. Peters for example.
A decent but not 100% rule of thumb is that if you have paid admission to enter (a museum, historic site, etc.), your chances of encountering a pickpocket are significantly lowered--but not completely gone.
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But even with all its "dangers," travel still beats sitting at home! 
