How to Avoid Theft

By Rick Steves

Europe is safe when it comes to violent crime. But it’s a very dangerous place - if you’re an American - from a petty purse-snatching, pickpocketing point of view.
Thieves target Americans: Not because they’re mean but because they’re smart. Loaded down with valuables in a strange new environment, we stick out like jeweled thumbs. If I were an European street thief, I’d specialize in Americans. My card would say „Yanks-R-Us”.
Americans are known as the ones with all the good stuff in their bags and wallets. Last year I met an American woman whose purse was stolen, and in her purse was her money belt. That juicy little anecdote was featured in every street-thief newsletter.
If you’re not constantly on guard, you’ll have something stolen. One summer, four out of five of my traveling companions lost cameras in one way or another. (Don’t look at me.) In more than 25 summers of travel, I’ve been mugged once (in a part of London where only fools and thieves tread), had my car broken into six times (broken locks and shattered wing windows, lots of nonessential stuff taken), and had my car hot-wired once (it was abandoned a few blocks away after the thief found nothing to take). But I’ve never had my room rifled and never had any money-belt-worthy valuables stolen.
Remember, nearly all crimes suffered by tourists are nonviolent and avoidable. Be aware of the pitfalls of traveling, but relax and have fun. Limit your vulnerability rather than your travels.
Leave precious valuables at home and wear your money belt on the road. Most people in every country are on your side. If you exercise adequate discretion, aren’t overly trusting, and don’t put yourself into risky situations, your travels should be about as dangerous as home-town grocery shopping. Don’t travel afraid - travel carefully.
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Money Belts

Money belts are your key to peace of mind. I never travel without one. A money belt is a small, nylon-zippered pouch that ties around the waist under your pants or skirt. You wear it completely hidden from sight, tucked in like a shirttail - over your shirt and under your pants. You can protect your fortune at a cost of only $10. With a money belt, all your essential documents are on you as securely and thoughtlessly as your underpants. Have you ever thought about that?
Every morning you put on your under-pants. You don’t even think about them all day long. And every night when you undress, sure enough, there they are, exactly where you put them. When I travel, my valuables are just as securely out of sight and out of mind, around my waist in a money belt. It’s luxurious peace of mind. I’m uncomfortable only when I’m not wearing it. Operate with a day’s spending money in your pocket. You don’t need to get at your money belt for every nickel, dime, and quarter. Your money belt is your deep storage - for select deposits and withdrawals. Lately, I haven’t even carried a wallet. A few bills in my shirt pocket - no keys, no wallet - I’m on vacation!
Precautions:
Never leave a money belt „hidden” on the beach while you swim. It’s safer left in your hotel room. In sleazy hotel or dorm situations where it shouldn’t be left alone in your room, shower with your money belt. Hang it - maybe in a plastic bag - from the nozzle. Keep your money belt contents dry and unsweaty with a Ziploc baggie.
Purses and wallets are handy for odds and ends and a day’s spending money, but plan on losing them. A button-down flap or a Velcro strip sewn into your front or back pocket slows down fast fingers. People who have nothing worth stealing (cars, video cameras, jewelry, and so on) except what’s in their money belt can travel virtually invulnerably.
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Tips on Avoiding Theft

Thieves thrive on confusion, crowds, and other tourist traps. Here’s some advice given to me by a thief who won the lotto:

Keep a low profile.

Never leave your camera lying around where hotel workers and others can see it and be tempted. Keep it either around your neck or zipped safely out of sight.
Luxurious luggage lures thieves. The thief chooses the most impressive suitcase in the pile - never mine. Thieves assume that anyone leaving a bank with their luggage just changed money. Bags are much safer in your room than with you on the streets. Hotels are a relative haven from thieves and a good resource for advice on personal safety.
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On trains and at the station

On the train, be alert at stops, when thieves can dash on and off - with your bag. When sleeping on a train (or at an airport or anywhere in public), clip or fasten your pack or suitcase to the chair, luggage rack, or yourself. Even the slight inconvenience of undoing a clip foils most thieves.
Women shouldn’t sleep in an empty train compartment. You’re safer sharing a compartment with a family or a couple of nuns.
Be on guard in train stations, especially upon arrival, when you may be overburdened by luggage and overwhelmed in a new location.
If you check your luggage, keep the claim ticket or key in your money belt. Thieves know just where to go if they get one of these.
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The Métro, subway, and flea markets

Crowding through the Paris Métro turnstiles is a popular way to rip off the unsuspecting tourist. Imaginative artful-dodger thief teams create a fight or commotion to distract their victims.
Crowded flea markets and city buses that cover the tourist sights (like Rome’s notorious bus number 64) are also happy hunting grounds. Thief teams will often block a bus or subway entry, causing the person behind you to „bump” into you.
While I don’t lock my zippers, most zippers are lockable, and even a wire twisty or key ring is helpful to keep your bag zipped up tight. Don’t use a waist (or „fanny”) pack as a money belt. Thieves assume this is where you keep your goodies.
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Your rental car

Thieves target tourists’ cars - especially at night.
Don’t leave anything even hinting of value in view in your parked car. Put anything worth stealing in the trunk. Leave your glove compartment open so the thief can look in without breaking in. Choose your parking place carefully. (Your hotel receptionist knows what’s safe and what precautions are necessary.)
Make your car look local. Take off or cover the rental company decals. Leave no tourist information lying around. Put a local newspaper in the back. More than half of the work that European automobile glass shops get is repairing wings broken by thieves.
Before I choose where to park, I check if the parking lot’s asphalt glitters. If you have a hatchback, leave the trunk covered during the day. At night take the cover off the trunk and lay it on the back seat so the thief thinks you’re savvy and can see there’s nothing stored in the back of your car.
Many police advise leaving your car unlocked at night. Worthless but irreplaceable things (journal, spent film, etc.) are stolen only if left in a bag. Lay these things loose in the trunk. In major cities in Spain, crude thieves reach into windows or even smash the windows of occupied cars at stoplights to grab a purse or camera. In Rome my favorite pension is next to a large police station - a safe place to park, if you’re legal.
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Scams

Many of the most successful scams require a naive and trusting tourist.
Be wary of any unusual contact or commotion in crowded public (especially touristic) places. If you’re alert and aren’t overly trusting, you should have no problem. Here are a few clever ways European thieves bolster their cash flow:

The „slow count”

Cashiers who deal with lots of tourists (especially in Italian tourist spots) thrive on the „slow count”. Even in banks, they’ll count your change back with odd pauses in hopes the rushed tourist will gather up the money early and say „Grazie”.
Take time to give accurate coins to minimize the complexity of the deal (e.g., give €52.50 for a €12.50 bill and wait for €40 in change).
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Oops!

You’re jostled in a crowd as someone spills mustard, ketchup, or fake pigeon poop on your shirt. The thief offers greedy apologies while dabbing it up - and pawing your pockets. There are variations: Someone drops something, you kindly pick it up, and you lose your wallet.
Or, even worse, someone throws a baby into your arms as your pockets are picked.Solch einen fiesen Trick kann ich mir kaum vorstellen! (Jochen Schmidtke)

Assume beggars are pickpockets

And assume any commotion is a fake commotion - designed to distract and jostle unknowing victims. If an elderly woman falls down an escalator, stand back and guard your valuables. Then... carefully... move in to help.
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The „helpful” local

Thieves posing as concerned locals will warn you to store your wallet safely - and then steal it after they see where you stash it. Some thieves put out tacks and ambush drivers with their „assistance” in changing the tire. Others hang out at subway ticket machines eager to „help” you, the bewildered tourist, buy tickets with a pile of your quickly disappearing foreign cash. If using a station locker, beware of the „hood samaritan” who may have his own key to a locker he’d like you to use.

Fake police

Two thieves in uniform - posing as „Tourist Police” - stop you on the street, flash their bogus badges, and ask to check your wallet for counterfeit bills or „drug money.” You won’t even notice some bills are missing until they leave. Never give your wallet to anyone.
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Young thief gangs

These are common throughout urban southern Europe, especially in the touristed areas of Milan, Florence, and Rome. Groups of boys or girls with big eyes, troubled expressions, and colorful raggedy clothes play a game where they politely mob the unsuspecting tourist, beggar style. As their pleading eyes grab yours and they hold up their pathetic message scrawled on cardboard, you’re fooled into thinking they’re beggars. All the while, your purse, fanny bag, or rucksack is being expertly rifled.
If you’re wearing a money belt and you understand what’s going on here, there’s nothing to fear; having a street thief’s hand in your pocket becomes just one more interesting cultural experience.
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If You’re Ripped Off

Even the most careful traveler can get ripped off.
If it happens, don’t let it ruin your trip. (If you’ll be making an insurance claim, get a police report immediately. Traveler’s check thefts must be reported within 24 hours.)
Many trips start with a major rip-off. But they recover, and with the right attitude and very light bags, they finish wonderfully.
Before you leave on your trip, photocopy your valuable documents and tickets. It’s easier to replace a lost or stolen plane ticket, passport, railpass, or car rental voucher if you have a photocopy proving you really owned what you lost.
American embassies or consulates are located in major European cities. They’re there to help American citizens in trouble, but they don’t fancy themselves as travelers’ aid offices. They will inform people at home that you need help, assist in replacing lost or stolen passports, and arrange for emergency funds to be sent from home (or, in rare cases, loan it to you directly).