Pick Pocketing

 (This risk has been calculated on the idea of someone who travels fairly frequently.  If you don't travel often or to many places, check out the risk in that particular country.

Getting Pick Pocketted

Risk: 🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔/5 (If you travel a lot, this WILL happen eventually)

Severity: 🦔🦔/5

Hello! 'Tis I, your favorite plague-riddled hedgehog, Murphy! This is going to be a hard one to write about because, as you can tell, we hedgehogs don't have pockets.  But I'll do my best.

One of the more common, and very nerve wracking events that happens to nearly all travelers eventually is arriving at a location to find that your wallet has been snatched. Never fear! Because this happens so often, there are lots of ways to prepare and lots of ways to deal with the situation.

Preparation and Prevention

Photography all Important Documents: Prior to traveling, take photos of your passport, drivers license, credit cards, etc.  Save these on a secure drive that you can access via the internet. That way if you lose something or get pick pocketed, it will be much easier to replace the missing items and prove your ID. Also save friends' phone numbers somewhere online so if your phone is stolen, you can still have their numbers and call them.

Travel pouches: I have been informed that humans, like hedgehogs, do not have pouches.  My echidna friends say that you can buy travel pouches from most travel stores.  These can go around your waist or under your shirt. Keep your most important stuff in there, as well as most of your money. 

Make yourself an inconvenient target: If you are going to keep things in your pockets, choose shirt breast pocket or front pants pockets rather than back pockets.  Turn your purse to face inwards instead of outwards.  Most criminals want an easy mark and a quick getaway. Something as simple as turning your purse around will dissuade most of them.

Walk Confidently: Yes, you may be in a new place and nervous, but walk confidently.  Even if you think you might be lost, chose a location (even the next street corner) and walk with confidence to it.  Criminals look for people that look lost or unsure.  Walking confident can be enough to dissuade them.

Take the minimum with you, leave the rest in your hotel: Especially if you have a hotel safe, take some cash, one card, passport photocopy or whatever (in some countries you need to take your passport with you, in which case, do). This way if something does happen, most of your IDs, cards, and cash are intact. 

Leave some "insurance money" with a trusted friend at home, and give them a password: This way if your money and cards are stolen, you can ask them to wire you money through one of the money transfer companies.  Why the password? "My wallet has been stolen and I need $2000 ASAP" is a really common scam.  So make sure there is a password that only you two know.  And slip it in subtly.  For example, make up a pet that doesn't exist.  That way when you email you can say "My wallet has been stolen, can you wire me $500 ASAP? Miss you so much. Give Twinkle extra kitty snuggles for me". Great safety measure!

Learn about local scams: Every location has its own tricks. Most have been well documented by other travelers and can be found online. That way you know the big tricks to look for.

Be friendly to local people: Yes, this seems weird, but if you are known as 'the person who always says hi' or 'the one who always smiles and treats us kindly', it's a heckuva lot more likely that a local person will intervene to stop a pick pocketing attempt and return your wallet.  

So you've been pick pocketed, What now?

Go to the Police.  If possible, go with a local friend.  Your hotel may even be willing to send an assistant manager or someone else with you to the police station.  Report the theft, give as much detail as possible, and get an official printed report. With an official report, you can send that to your insurance to get some money or value back.  And depending on the place, the police might have an easy time catching the thief! Make sure the police have a way to contact you, your hotel, and/or your embassy if they find anything.

Report your missing documents immediately: Look up those photos you saved earlier, call your credit card companies to cancel or freeze your cards before the thief decides they definitely want a new computer, and if something like a drivers license and/or passport went missing, call the nearest consulate or embassy of your country.  They should be able to issue you an emergency passport very quickly as well as keep any eye out for anyone using your documents illegally. This is one of the most common crises for travelers abroad, so your embassy will be ready to help.

It's okay to get emotional: Most people feel really embarrassed by this, but a lot of people cry after getting pick pocketed, even if they didn't lose much.  It's a very violating experience to realize that someone, completely without your knowledge, took your belongings just as you were holding them.  It's okay to be upset.  In fact, it's better to be upset for a day and then enjoy the rest of your travels than to hold it in and let it ruin your trip.

"It happened to me" Two pick pocketing experiences

With Help from the Police: I was running a bunch of errands while working in Mongolia. This included taking out my next quarter's rent from the bank.  Because of this I was carrying my major ID with me.  When I left the bank, I must have been scouted by some thieves.  Of course, I'd come straight from the bank so I was carrying a lot of money. As I was about to get into a taxi, I realized my wallet was gone, along with my credit cards, rent money, and ID.  

The first thing I did was call a local friend and ask if she could come to the police station with me (and front the taxi ride as I had no cash.) She was happy to accompany me to the police station.  We explained my situation in detail, and the police felt confident that with the traffic cameras, they could find the thieves.  I asked the police for a printed and signed report, which they happily gave to me.  This made it much easier to replace my lost IDs. Because of the language barrier, we gave the police my friend's phone number as well.  When I got home, I had a cup of tea and allowed myself to be frustrated for a bit. Then I called my credit card companies, explained the situation and asked them to put a freeze on my cards. I knew I could call to cancel my cards if they weren't returned, or unfreeze them if they were. But either way the thief wouldn't be able to use them.

A day later, the police called.  They caught the thief and nearly all of my money was returned to me (he had spent a little). Even my cards and ID were intact.  I was very relieved and took my friend out for a beer as a thank you.

With Help from the Community: When I was working in India, I was pick pocketed at the bus stop.  I knew India had a reputation for foreigners being pick pocketed, so fortunately my wallet had only the minimum money and ID that I needed for day-to-day interactions.  I kept the rest in a safe at home. But on that one particular day, I had been a bit laissez faire about safety, and hadn't been doing the little things like flipping my bag inwards.  I was tired.

When my stuff was stolen, I was frustrated, but not too concerned.  It wasn't a lot of money and there were no credit cards of major documents.  I assumed it was a loss.  Disappointing, but not awful.  

So you can imagine my surprise when I was at a local friend's home for dinner, his phone rang, and on the other line was someone saying "[NAME], aren't you friends with the foreigner who works at [location]? Some guys stole her wallet. We saw them looking through it and recognized her photo, so we wrestled it away from them." I had never met these people before, but they knew me around town as a friendly face, someone who was always polite, respectful, and a nice person, so even though they didn't know my name, they recognized me as someone who they would like to help. 

My friend explained that I was actually at his home right then.  Not 15 minutes later, two men showed up with my wallet, money, ID and all! The funny thing is that about two years later the same thing happened with an iPhone.  Again, some people recognized my picture and remembered me as "that nice foreigner who is always friendly", wrestled the phone away from the thief and gave it back to me.

Kindness is free and often pays interest!