Escalator Pickpocket Scam

[joeseeker]

Velcro?

I was silly enough to be carrying my passport in a side pocket of my shorts one day while visiting Chatuchak. The pocket has two velcro tabs. I didn't feel a thing but when I got home I didn't have my passport. I guess the bulge of a passport looks like a wallet. I also had a camera and a mobile phone. I thought they'd be easier targets but I still have them.

Don't use escalators?

Have you seen how crowded the elevators can get at Times Square?

[fxe1200]

Keep your wallet and money in your front pockets.

I keep my banknotes only at a moneyclip inside a buttoned shirt pocket, the trousers are for handkerchiefs, change and keys. That is the safest place i can imagine. The attempt of a foreign hand to open this frontpocket would surely trigger an uppercut.

[MSingh]

Original Poster, did the men appear to be Thai that picked your pocket?

As opposed to??

If they had been six farang or Indian or ??? think the OP might've mentioned it.

Or do you have info on the evil Cambodian border bandits operating the Bangkok escalators these days?

They were all Thai. One was even wearing the respected yellow T shirt. I did report it to the building reception, just so they could alert security, who stand aimlessly on every floor. One would like to think that these guys would now be alert to any suspicious activity on the escalators. I regularly have coffee at Times Square, so will be keeping an eye out myself...and my money secure at hand.

Aha, that makes it ok for them to do it then in their eyes..

I'm sorry for your loss, being a vistim of crime is never a good thing..

[steveromagnino]

I was once fingered by some ladyboys on Sukumwit, but luckily noticed and managed to stop them.

Fingered???!

That's similar to me; this one time these scam artists from Resort tried to steal my wallet by attempting to use suction on my netherregions to extract the cash from my wallet via my reproductive system.

I gave them something, but I felt very dirty afterwards. Twice if i recall correctly.

Anyheeow, sadly I am still waiting for that attempt to have someone pick a fight with me again in New Zealand, or have someone attempt to pick pocket me here. Still waiting for both.

Shoop Shoop Shoopidy Shoop

Shoop Shoop etc etc

[Payboy]

I gave them something, but I felt very dirty afterwards.

hope it was only hard cash...

[Prakanong]

Velcro!

When this happened to me it was a velcro pocket they opened as they had seen me put my money in there - I heard it open and straight away felt my pocket. At this point I shouted and they knew they were rumbled so the man behind threw the 10k onto the steps and told me i had dropped it.

[Heng]

That's similar to me; this one time these scam artists from Resort tried to steal my wallet by attempting to use suction on my netherregions to extract the cash from my wallet via my reproductive system.

Had the same thing happen to me roughly 80-90 times in Honolulu.... and then then another hundred+ times in California, Long Beach to be specific. Rough neighborhood I guess. Don't even want to add up how much they have made off with.

Edited June 30, 2008 by Heng

[farang555]

op a fraud. just as i suspected times sq is where there is very little going on.

thieves need people around to blend in.

Edited June 30, 2008 by farang555

[Prakanong]

op a fraud. just as i suspected times sq is where there is very little going on.

thieves need people around to blend in.

Well I used to do some work in Times Square and its true the place is not too busy - but when the people picked my pocket last year it was in a pretty deserted place at that time of day - thats how I heard the pocket being opened and got my cash back.

[Lancashirelad]

There was something about a very similar incident to what the OP describes either within, or around the time of, the thread about the farang who had breakfast in the same cafe every day & threw a tantrum if his seat was taken.

[farang555]

short answer to op.

pickpocketing is not a new scam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Flapman]

Leather wallets do tend to get nice and shiny from all that sweat! And the faster you spend your money, the shinier they get!

It ain't a sure thing, but a couple of elastic bands around a wallet can make it a lot more tricky for them to remove it without you feeling a tell-tale tug. Give it a try?