Watch out for the artful dodgers!
As two young Thai girls are caught on camera stealing a tourist’s watch we reveal the other most common street scams
A kindly stranger notices icecream, bird mess or ketchup spattered all over your jacket and begins dabbing away at the stains with tissues. They’re so stubborn that he offers to remove the clothing to make sure it is perfectly clean. Only later do you realise that your wallet or purse is gone. A young woman spills a handful of loose change. As she scrambles on the floor you gallantly step in. While you’re busy on your knees scooping up coins you let go of your handbag or briefcase. An accomplice moves in unnoticed and steals it or expertly removes a phone or purse. At a popular tourist attraction a young man approaches and politely asks if you would mind taking his photo. Happy to oblige you place your bag on the ground while he poses. You’re so intent on getting the best angle you don’t notice his sidekick rifling through your bag. The best con artists know that most of us will help a fellow human being in distress. Beware the pretty damsel who has lost her purse and tearfully asks for a tenner for a taxi home, or a respectable businessman who claims to have lost his briefcase and asks for a loan. He’s even more convincing because he promises to repay the cash and hands over a bogus business card. At the end of a night out, an overfriendly stranger approaches and gives you a bear hug. It seems like a case of nothing more than high spirits and only much later do you notice your mobile or wallet is missing. Variations on this well-worn street scam involve a stranger trying to engage you in a slow dance, or some other form of physical contact such as a game of football. While you are up close and personal or jostling for a ball it’s the perfect opportunity for a pickpocket to strike. An earnest-looking young man asks you to sign his petition. He offers a clipboard or reading material and steals your possessions while your hands are full and your attention is on the words in front of your eyes. At the cash point you key in your PIN and the amount you want to withdraw, then you feel a tap on the shoulder and the person behind you asks if you have dropped a £10 note on the floor. You know it’s not yours but you avert your eyes from the bank machine to look at the note. By the time you refocus your card has been snatched from the machine by an accomplice. The shoulder surfer has already memorised your PIN and within minutes cash will be withdrawn from your account. Dating back hundreds of years the pig in a poke involves selling an item on the street but switching the container so the buyer ends up with nothing. Originally this involved convincing the gullible customer that a bag contained a delicious pig. Versions of this trick are still practised today, including street auctions involving the switching of expensive goods for inferior ones. A woman unexpectedly thrusts a baby (or doll) into your arms. Your natural reaction is to hold tight. While you remonstrate with the apparent mother you can easily be pickpocketed. The best thieves can remove jewellery and watches without you noticing. One of the most common scams involves some sort of street show. While you’re focusing on the performance an accomplice in the audience is busy relieving you of valuables. The more crowded the street the better. A classic is the game involving a pea hidden beneath one of three walnut shells. Your job is to guess which one and gamble on the outcome – but the pea has been removed by sleight of hand and you can’t possibly win. When you arrive at your hotel the super-friendly taxi driver will offer to unload your luggage. He’ll seem in a rush and will jump back in his car and drive off. In fact he has deliberately left one of your smaller bags in the boot. Wednesday September 28 2016 On holiday you offer to pay the fare with a large note. The driver hands it back, asking for another method of payment. It is only later that you realise your genuine note has been expertly swapped for a forgery. At a railway station or other busy place a stranger approaches and warns that he’s just seen someone being pickpocketed. He advises you to check your wallet, noting where it is kept so it can be stolen later. Also beware the local who offers to help you use a cash machine. He could grab the cash and run or it could be an attempt to memorise your PIN to use after you’ve been pickpocketed. James Freedman is an entertainer who specialises in pickpocketing. He uses his unusual talent to advise on crime prevention and has been appointed UK fraud protection ambassador by City of London Police. He says: “The number one rule is to beware of strangers, even friendly ones. Anyone invading your personal space or coming up to you in the street should set an alarm bell ringing especially if they ask you to hold something.
“Pickpocketing is classed as a stealth crime – you don’t know what’s going on. Sometimes it involves deliberately distracting you but your attention can also be diverted by your natural surroundings, making you more vulnerable. In London the potential targets for pickpockets are easy to spot – they are all looking up at Big Ben.
“If I’m in a place I assess to be high risk I make it a rule to carry only what I need. I will also take an old phone. These days thousands of people use their tablets to take photos so they are putting their entire digital life at risk.
“It is worth getting to know how these frauds operate and how they evolve so that you can organise your defences. It is common sense. Don’t walk around with your wallet hanging out of a back pocket or expensive watches or jewellery on display. Don’t leave phones on tables while you eat. Keep your valuables and phone in different pockets. Pickpockets often hang around near the ‘beware of pickpockets’ sign and then watch people instinctively tap their pockets, to pinpoint the valuables.
“They look for easy or wealthy victims so try to appear less of a target than the next person. The age-old rule of avoiding con men is that if something seems too good to be true then it probably is.”
www.jamesfreedman.com