How to Avoid Becoming Pickpocket Prey
By Tania Valdemoro
The small squat woman was tugging my sweater with her callused hand, while the woman beside her grabbed hold of my camera. "No Italiano," they were chanting. I instinctively hit both of them, even with the children attached to their chests. I pulled my money pack and camera away. A wave of nausea hit me. This was supposed to be simple, I thought. We weren't going to miss it: The Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the end, the structural dilemma of the world's most famous bell tower attracted my notice but didn't divert my mind from the earlier encounter in a deserted piazza. I was pissed off.
Last time I backpacked in Europe, I was pick-pocketed in Spain. Later that year, on another trip, I was robbed in Amsterdam. At that time, I was too busy trying to rectify the situation-lost passport, no return ticket home, cancelled credit cards-to grasp the gravity of my situation. To yelp, to cry. To admit to my parents I had been stupid. Or to admit that pickpockets had finally beat me.
When I had returned to Oxford from traveling around Europe, I had acquired a reputation among my friends for inadvertently getting into trouble. My stories of running into sketchy people and being pick-pocketed became hilarious conversation openers among my college friends The lessons learned from those experiences were diluted as people reiterated to their friends fantastic endings to my sagas: "Yes, she kicked the man in the groin as he attacked her friend on the Metro…Yes, she recovered her wallet in the Dutch police station in the red light district…."
This time, when I traveled to Italy with a friend, I had prepared myself. I had purchased one of those money packs you wear around your chest. I wore it faithfully. Who cared if I looked like an American tourist? I bought travel insurance. I left my cards, Walkman and nice camera at home. I photocopied my passport - including the hideous picture where I looked cross-eyed because of my new contacts. I memorized my new passport number. Coincidentally, we even stayed near the U.S. Embassy in Rome, which gave me an added sense of security - at least I knew where to go if someone stole my passport.
Pickpockets are serious, and so are the consequences of being harassed by them. Of being robbed. They're not there to welcome you to the country. They're not there to make your travel narratives more colorful or exciting to other jaded "been there, done that" travelers and your stateside friends. They screw you over. They don't care about you-only what you have that they can use. Without getting in trouble. For free…at your expense.
We don't take the threat that random pickpockets pose seriously. Travel insurance is a joke because we assume we're not going to need it. We're careful. It's not going to happen to us. Thinking about possible theft and taking precautions matters though. Here's why:
- You have to substantiate your claim. If you are pick pocketed, you'll have to get in touch with the local authorities and file a report. Embassy officials, banks and credit card companies need to prove the credibility of your story in order to help you. Many times, a police report will provide an official context and documentation for your robbery. Be as detailed as possible. Where and when were you pick-pocketed? By whom? What did the person(s) look like? What did your missing bag or wallet look like? What did it contain? How much cash were you carrying? What are your credit cards and their numbers?
You have to wait. Just because you've been victimized, the process of getting yourself out of trouble doesn't speed up. If you lose your passport, your home country's embassy has to verify your identity, your citizenship and issue you a new passport, usually for a fee. This process can take an afternoon or days, depending on a number of factors, including how quickly you can have relatives or friends send or fax you citizenship documentation and fill out forms. If you're lucky like I was, your wait doesn't take days but includes a bristling lecture from an embassy official who gives you the "You're stupid and careless" lecture my parents were too shocked to give me.
- You need money. It's harder to access funds when you don't have an ATM card, travelers checks or your checkbook at hand.
You need a passport and a train/plane/boat ticket to leave the country you're visiting. This is usually the third or fourth step you'll take after your papers are in order and you have some emergency money or credit - figuring out how to get home, how much it'll cost and when you'll depart.
- Credit card fraud can potentially ruin your existing credit (or your ability to have a clean credit report when you leave college). Credit reports are a foreign concept in college. But having a clean credit report opens a lot of doors for you after you graduate. Through your credit report, your company, bank, landlord and others can assess your potential to pay for goods - your rent, your car, your gas card or computer. My bank could not deactivate my debit card for over a year after I had been robbed in Amsterdam. So the pickpocket continued withdrawing money from my checking account as he or she charged phone calls, meals and clothing using the credit card part of my debit card. I withdrew all my money from my incompetent bank, but the active debit card threw my cancelled account into overdraft and the bank's automated system generated nasty collection notices to me. When the bank's "correct" department finally heard my story (as well as the case filed on my behalf by my state's consumer protection agency and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - the federal agency that regulates national banks), the bank finally deactivated the card. As I moved to a new state and opened a new bank account, my old bank had to furnish the new bank and me with evidence that I was a "victim of credit card fraud" and not a "delinquent payee." If your account is in any way suspicious, the bank's computers automatically mark your account for a background check through a national bank database when you try to open another one with a different national bank. If you don't like credit checks when you buy electronics or when you rent an apartment, you'll like a bank background check even less.
Be aware of your surroundings and the people you encounter. But at the same time, remember you're not in enemy territory. You don't have to be on guard against possible attack, every second of every hour of the day. Be defensive. Put your wallet, cards and money in a secure place that only you can access. Don't dress like pickpocket prey. Your clothes should not imply you're a careless tourist with a lot of money. Call for help if pickpockets are touching and harassing you. Fight back. Your safety and belongings are important and you have the right to defend yourself.
It didn't matter to me that my aggressors were a group of old gypsy women carrying children. Or that they looked pitiable. They had shown me they had wanted to rob me. And I wasn't going to let them. Even if they were successful, they wouldn't get much. I carefully chose what I was carrying. I was prepared. Not just this time. Every time.
Tania Valdemoro graduated from Yale University in 1999. She currently lives in Stamford and has worked as a freelance and corporate communication writer, while scheming ways to visit Europe and live in England pickpocket-free. tvaldem@yahoo.com ays