pickpockets | Venice: I am not making this up

September 25, 2024 16 Comments

The nose on this very old-fashioned doorbell has encountered thousands of hands in its life, as we see. But they usually came in friendship.

This just hot off the press.

Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon the Piazza San Marco was bubbling with tourists. The sun was out, the air was warm, the most beautiful city in the world (so-called) was just lounging around being beautiful, etc. There were thousands (probably) of tourists, and an inexact number of thieves and pickpockets in the mix. So far, so normal.

One of the tourists was a man identified only as being South American. One of the pickpockets was originally from Tunisia, and around 4:00 PM they were destined to meet. The Tunisian was already known for his propensity to steal from shops, but yesterday he tried his hand at stealing from people. The aforementioned hand had already extracted the tourist’s wallet, as I understand it, but the victim felt it, ran after and caught him, and launched his fist at the thief’s nose. Broke it, in fact.

Wallet recovered, pickpocket carried away in an ambulance to await surgery.

The daily newspapers were in full cry. (Left to right): “San Marco tourist breaks thief’s nose.” “Pickpockets a tourist followed and beaten at San Marco.” “Robbed he retaliates and sends the thief to the hospital.”

Lessons learned? Don’t try to steal wallets if you’re only used to ransacking rooms. Rooms don’t hit back.

Somebody stepped on this tomato long before I walked past. I took the photo only because I liked how it looked. Little did I suspect that it would ever be useful.

Those tricky pickpockets

This is just to set the scene, the mood, the atmosphere.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but I’m sending out this information anyway. Short version: Cover your hand whenever you enter your PIN number at the ATM here.

A good friend has told me of her experiences tracking pickpockets who are tracking you. She’s one of many who’ve taken an interest in nabbing them, and I applaud her wholeheartedly. Seeing that she lives on the doorstep of the Piazza San Marco, she’s perfectly situated for maximum sightings. If she can’t intervene in time by shouting, she takes a photo and sends it to the Carabinieri. That’s the drill.

Back to you.

Everybody knows that they have to be super-careful of their wallets when out and about. I always advise visitors to not carry too much cash, and to separate their credit/bank cards from their wallet.

You still have to be super-careful, but the reason for it has accelerated. Because the thieves operate in teams, she told me. Their “work,” if we want to put it that way, goes like this:

One person — whom you will never see, just assume that person is there — watches you enter your PIN number at the cash machine. If you haven’t covered your hand, he or she will immediately memorize that number.

The next person in the team of thieves follows you and he/she, or whoever is next in line in the light-fingered relay, steals your wallet the old-fashioned way. They take your bank/credit card to an ATM, enter your PIN number, and withdraw as much as they can. Many banks here have limits on how much can be withdrawn in a day, but the limit is sometimes rather high. My friend told me of someone who discovered that 1000 dollars had been removed from his account in the time it took to report the theft and block the card.

So much about Venice seems designed to give thieves the advantage: Crammed spaces, lots to look at, and you not paying attention. You can’t do anything about the first two, but it’s up to you to handle the third. Pay attention to your wallet, and your PIN number. No need to be unduly alarmed. Venice is not unlike Antarctica or the Naruto Whirlpools: Things go better if you’re prepared.

tourist strikes back

Those tricky pickpockets