Songkran and pickpocketing - they nearly got me, be careful!

[Jay1]

i have acquired an automated reaction i am not even consciously aware of doing it. if my space is impinged in any way my hand goes straight to my wallet and stays there till the space is clear

have i ever succumbed? yes once possibly twice both by girl of advanced repute. i didnt feel my space was being impinged. they do staring and murmur while stinking their hand in your pocket.

unsuccessful attempt by various other characters, too may to remember.

Same. If I'm walking through a busy area my hands naturally go into my pockets, making wallet and phone pretty much impossible to be stolen

They can be stolen quite easily in that situation, there are plenty of ways for pickpockets to get your attention where you may have to use your hands.

Anyone walking slowly in ie, a crowded market, with their hand, or hands, in their pockets is a bit of a giveaway to a professional pickpocket.

Please explain how, when I have, and keep, my hands on my cash in my pocket that a thief can grab it?

hasn't happened so far!!

Maybe if the gang of thieves contains ladyboy's and they go after your crown jewelry, thus separating you hands from you money to protect your innocence.

Then the other member (who is not going near your member) relieves you of your currency.

These gangs work in mysterious and cunning ways.

I agree with you. I'm just saying when walking through a large crowd, if it's a choice between hands in pockets or not, then I choose to have my hands in pockets.

I know which way makes me feel more secure.

[luke000]

I always keep one hand in my pocket, when I'm hailing a taxi cab

[cyberfarang]

Yeah, I dropped it vertically, upwards, without using my hands.

6-8, if I were to guess. I have no way of knowing.

Maybe the foreigner was in on it with the Thai gang. He bottled out after you grabbed the girl and realised you had twigged on to what was happening. Have you thought of that?

[hawker9000]

'Sounds like how I actually DID have my pocket picked. Very large crowd in BTS station; had just gotten off a train behind a blind person, couldn't move during a period of about 10-15secs; then the crowd seemed to "decongest" rather rapidly; discovered wallet missing just a few seconds later. 'Can't say for sure how many might've been involved or whether a gang or just one person involved, but whichever it was certainly quick & smooth - 'never felt a thing. (Before the knobheads start, No, it wasn't in a back pocket and No, no alcohol involved, but I had come from the grocery store and did have a bag in my hands.) 'Happened back in mid-December.

[MyFriend You]

No Really, how he describes it is exactly how they are taught - They broke up a Romanian Pickpocket School in Bangkok some years back.............the 'students' were all taught this scenario exactly - first sign of being caught, drop the goods and run........no fault. no foul. They mainly worked Chat U Chak, would hide in the clothes racks people looked thru and go thru pockets, bags, purses at leisure.

My own episode (only one in my life actually) I had just won about 28,000 baht in the lottery, went to Pon Thip to buy a couple hard drive's for my Server, I was on the escalator - a group of young Thais in front of me, talking, laughing, loudly (I speak.understand a good amount of Thai, nothing out of the ordinary) some people were behind me, Hell, its an escalator) there was a big guy in front of me, instead of getting off the escalator, he started walking backwards at the top, I couldn't get around him, about a dozen hands started groping me, I grabbed the one in my front pocket and held on, it was a girl, and my baht flew out and was all over the escalator..........she started screaming, I held on and the big guy ran like hell, so did about a dozen other thais. The shop keepers on the fourth floor, surrounded a bunch and started kicking them, the Pon Thip security cops came , one guy wanted to hit me with his club because I was still holding on to this screaming girl, shop keepers were picking up my money, Yelling "My pen Rai, Mai Gua mai gua" gave me back as much of my money they could find. Made the newspapers, the girl was from Burma, and splled the beans on the Romanian Pickpocket School, actually felt sorry for her - she was one of about fifty teenagers jailed.............but all the 'Romanian teachers' escaped, pbly to Pattaya.

Mi Dos Centavos

Edited April 14, 2016 by TunnelRat69

[MyFriend You]

So this was like a 20-strong pickpocket gang?

I think there's a little paranoia at work here.

Where did you get the number 20? I think there's a little exaggeration going on ... and I'm not talking about the OP.

Having lived in this region half my adult life, I would say this was an under-estimation - what color are your sunglasses - Rosey Red??

[NoshowJones]

i have acquired an automated reaction i am not even consciously aware of doing it. if my space is impinged in any way my hand goes straight to my wallet and stays there till the space is clear

have i ever succumbed? yes once possibly twice both by girl of advanced repute. i didnt feel my space was being impinged. they do staring and murmur while stinking their hand in your pocket.

unsuccessful attempt by various other characters, too may to remember.

Same. If I'm walking through a busy area my hands naturally go into my pockets, making wallet and phone pretty much impossible to be stolen

They can be stolen quite easily in that situation, there are plenty of ways for pickpockets to get your attention where you may have to use your hands.

Anyone walking slowly in ie, a crowded market, with their hand, or hands, in their pockets is a bit of a giveaway to a professional pickpocket.

Good point. Next time I'm in a crowded area I'll keep my hands above my head and my pockets open

Unfortunately there is no 100% way of keeping safe from pickpockets, the safest way I can think of is getting pockets sown in the inside of your trousers.

I understand there is a lady with a stall near the Landmark Hotel who can do this for you.

[BritManToo]

"Then in an instant, the crowd around me breaks up, and that's partly what makes me realise something is wrong, it's an immediate and coordinated dispersal - if they had just kept up their act a little longer, or dispersed gradually, maybe I wouldn't have any idea."

Sounds like more than half a dozen people to me. Also sounds like a paranoid fantasy where an entire crowd of Thai people conspire to rob somebody.

Two's company, three's a crowd.

[NoshowJones]

i have acquired an automated reaction i am not even consciously aware of doing it. if my space is impinged in any way my hand goes straight to my wallet and stays there till the space is clear

have i ever succumbed? yes once possibly twice both by girl of advanced repute. i didnt feel my space was being impinged. they do staring and murmur while stinking their hand in your pocket.

unsuccessful attempt by various other characters, too may to remember.

Same. If I'm walking through a busy area my hands naturally go into my pockets, making wallet and phone pretty much impossible to be stolen

They can be stolen quite easily in that situation, there are plenty of ways for pickpockets to get your attention where you may have to use your hands.

Anyone walking slowly in ie, a crowded market, with their hand, or hands, in their pockets is a bit of a giveaway to a professional pickpocket.

Please explain how, when I have, and keep, my hands on my cash in my pocket that a thief can grab it?

hasn't happened so far!!

That is just the thing, keeping your hands on your cash in your pocket. Suppose someone near you collapses and says "help me", or something similar, the first

thing you are going to do is try and help, and what do you do with your hands? There are plenty of ways for pickpockets to distract you.

It has never happened to me either, but is not to say it can't.

[Social Media]

"its a conspiracy" they are all out to get us at every opportunity,.......yeah right........

For some there is a bogeyman around every corner. Common sense and being aware of your surroundings usually prevails

[hawker9000]

"its a conspiracy" they are all out to get us at every opportunity,.......yeah right........

For some there is a bogeyman around every corner. Common sense and being aware of your surroundings usually prevails

Usually. But then this isn't really a case of the "usually" is it? And for some, rose tints are cheap.

Edited April 15, 2016 by hawker9000

[Jay1]

i have acquired an automated reaction i am not even consciously aware of doing it. if my space is impinged in any way my hand goes straight to my wallet and stays there till the space is clear

have i ever succumbed? yes once possibly twice both by girl of advanced repute. i didnt feel my space was being impinged. they do staring and murmur while stinking their hand in your pocket.

unsuccessful attempt by various other characters, too may to remember.

Same. If I'm walking through a busy area my hands naturally go into my pockets, making wallet and phone pretty much impossible to be stolen

They can be stolen quite easily in that situation, there are plenty of ways for pickpockets to get your attention where you may have to use your hands.

Anyone walking slowly in ie, a crowded market, with their hand, or hands, in their pockets is a bit of a giveaway to a professional pickpocket.

Please explain how, when I have, and keep, my hands on my cash in my pocket that a thief can grab it?

hasn't happened so far!!

That is just the thing, keeping your hands on your cash in your pocket. Suppose someone near you collapses and says "help me", or something similar, the first

thing you are going to do is try and help, and what do you do with your hands? There are plenty of ways for pickpockets to distract you.

It has never happened to me either, but is not to say it can't.

I never said it can't, I was merely saying that I walk with my hands in my pockets when walking through crowded areas haha

[elgenon]

Why would they mind if you grabbed the girl. You couldn't prove anything.

[luke000]

Why would they mind if you grabbed the girl. You couldn't prove anything.

The girl would have led them to the rest of the gang

[dotpoom]

"Who goes to the biggest water fight in the world with no water gun?"

I make myself scarce around Songkran time....but it is news to me that by going along I would be entering myself into a fight....is that what Songkran is?

and there was me thinking it was about celebrating the traditional Thai New Year?

[mydee]

The poster you are criticizing imply or state that the victim of the attempted robbery didn't have the right to post here.

Of course the original poster has the right to post about his experience here, it is a helpful warning to be so careful with your valuables, especially in areas such as Silom where large crowds gather. It was also an interesting post in that he was able to describe the way these vermin operate.

It is equally valid to try and gauge how much of a problem something like pick pocketing is in Thailand and you can only do this by applying some benchmark and looking at overseas experience is one legitimate way of doing this. which, in effect the poster who pointed this out is doing. For example in Bangkok assaults against foreigners occasionally happens and are reported here. Apart from a general interest what does this mean to me? If I can work out how big the problem is compared to other countries, such as Switzerland, Columbia or Port Morsby I can decide on what I will do, depending on my risk tolerance.

This is also what those posters who appear to have issues with Thailand do, in an example of that Thailand has an unacceptable level of road trauma and that Thailand isn't doing enough about it,the overseas rates of road death/trauma is always raised, and quit rightly so.

My objection is to people like BudRight who actually preempted people who have views other than his own by labeling them as apologists. So immediately the level of discussion is lowered to the pro and anti Thai camps. I wouldn't wish to censor any poster on this basis but reserve the right to point out how misguided this approach is

Get ready for an avalanche of apologists explaining

2. That it could happen anywhere.

3. That's it's much worse in Sydney/London/Paris/Seattle, etc.

Pickpocketing does happen all over the World and its certainly a lot worse in some other Countries

So because it is worse somewhere else means that he does not have the right to post about his experience with pickpocketing IN THAILAND on a THAILAND forum?..... How bizarre your mind works.

[balo]

I keep my wallet in the front pocket of my jeans/shorts. Never had a problem so far after 5 years here . When I lived in Bangkok I was standing almost daily in the big crowds in the BTS stations. Must have been lucky then .

[hawker9000]

I keep my wallet in the front pocket of my jeans/shorts. Never had a problem so far after 5 years here . When I lived in Bangkok I was standing almost daily in the big crowds in the BTS stations. Must have been lucky then .

Well obviously there's luck involved. I never had a problem in almost 30 years, including a lot of time spent in BTS rush-hour crowds as well. ... until last December. (My wallet was in a front pocket also.)

What was the lesson learned? if you're carrying your passport (OR large sums of money, OR credit cards, OR anything with your PII on it) on you, you're rolling the dice in Thailand, and it doesn't really matter much how careful you are. I lost a couple of thousand baht as well, but for me the passport was a much bigger issue. I only had it with me in the 1st place because I thought I'd be needing it at the phone place - I usually never carry it. I've usually also avoided rush-hour BTS travel, particularly around Siam, if I could; 'sure wish I had this time...

Yes, be careful of course. But THINK ABOUT the consequences of loss, and THEN decide what you really need to have with you.

[MahasarakhamMitch]

I was pick-pocketed in Indonesia 20+ years ago at a songtaew-type bus station. 3 man team:

The bumper

The pick

The hand-off

Very slick. They got cash, travelers checks, and credit cards but not my passport, other travelers checks and (then) paper airline ticket. The credit cards were canceled and replaced and the travelers checks refunded at AmEx in Jakarta as I had the numbers. Cash obviously gone,

BTW there are razor-blade artists out there who can slice just about anything without your knowing it including a pocket, fanny-pack or a belt loop.

I bought a thing called pacsafe that is designed to stop the razor blade gangs

[BigOm19]

Yesterday afternoon at Songkran waterfight in Silom area: My daughter's waterproof bag was slashed and wallet with everything in it stolen - national ID, atm cards, cash. It appeared to have happened some time after paying for drinks at a 7-11. Or maybe during. She doesn't know.

 

She and a Thai-speaker friend made a police report in a temporary booth in Dusit Thani hotel. Arrived home early and badly shaken.

Edited April 16, 2018 by BigOm19

[metisdead]

Rather than resurrect a 2 year old topic to post about this, you are welcome open a new topic for discussion.