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How to avoid child pickpockets in Italy

How to avoid child pickpockets in Italy

While Venice is one of the jewels of Italy, it also has a reputation for children pickpockets. Most first-time tourists to Italy pick Venice as one of their destinations to visit. First-time tourists and even repeat visitors should be aware of children pickpockets in Venice. Tourists that are enjoying the charms of the city are prime targets for pickpockets of all ages including child pickpockets.

What may take thieves just a moment to “lift” from your pockets (passports, credit cards, and airline tickets) may take you days to replace. So travelers beware of even innocent-looking locals be they a well-dressed business person standing next to you or a playful group of young children.

Children as Thieves – Pickpockets in Venice

Schooling for thieves starts very early. A traveler was seated on a crowded bus in Rome on her way to the Vatican. She glanced down at her lap to find a tiny little hand reaching into her now unzipped fanny pack. The child could not have been more than 6 years old. Groups of children have been known to gang up on unsuspecting travelers as well. One common scenario is the newspaper trick. A group of children approach the unsuspecting tourist and ask for money or try to sell you knick-knacks as they jab at you with newspapers or cardboard. The papers effectively block your view of little hands fast at work, opening pockets, slashing belts, and cleaning out your travel funds. If you do catch on, usually the shock of being robbed by children delays your reaction a moment more, making for a successful robbery.

Why Children Make Good Thieves

Children pickpockets venice

Street vendors selling souvenirs can be a distraction for tourists and an attraction for pickpockets.

More common in Rome and other Italian cities child pickpockets are now working in Venice too. Under 14 years of age, these children cannot be held accountable for their crimes by local law. So they are ideal for older thieves to train and put out on the streets to work. If the child thieves are picked up by police, they are taken to child refugee safe houses, and then they abscond in the morning only to be back on the street the very next day. Some of the children are stopped by Carabinieri (national police), fed-up local vigilantes and shopkeepers on a daily basis, but the rewards are great and the young thieves keep on robbing.

Be streetwise – Venice is a very safe town but pickpocketing is one thing you should look out for. Favorite places for the robbers include busy lanes and bridges, the bus terminus at Piazzale Roma, the St. Mark’s area and rush-hour water buses. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security if the only people near you are ten-year-olds or heavily-pregnant girls; these are classic examples of the pickpockets sent out by Fagin-like operators. Newspapers have reported children as young as 5 being employed in crime. Be very aware of people falling in behind you in a queue, especially if you are being jostled. Shout loudly and attract attention if someone attempts to rob you.

Often girls are the ones to approach purse-carrying women as they seem the least threatening. They will play around you or distract you with a cardboard sign asking you to buy a trinket or candy. Children also have smaller hands which you may not feel slipping into a bag or pocket. Venice with its many alleys and narrow streets is an ideal setup for the thieves to steal from tourists and to and run away out of sight. Your best defense is a security purse that has built-in anti-theft features to keep your valuables secure from pickpockets.  Travel with peace of mind.

Anti-Theft Travel Gear

Our best advice is to carry your valuables close to your body and hidden from view, if you can’t leave them locked in a hotel room safe. A neck pouch that zips closed or uses velcro to stay closed should be worn under your shirt or blouse. Even if the neck cord is visible or the item is a bit lumpy under your shirt most likely a thief will pass you up for another victim that isn’t wearing one. Another similar type of body wallet is a flat money belt that you tuck into the front of your pants.

Find a Money Belt to Keep ID from gettinglost or stolen

Anti theft neck pouch for travel

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One of the most liberating benefits of modern technology is the mobility and flexibility it gives us. Stay connected on vacation for fun, or even to sneak a peek at office emails if you must. If you’re out of the office for work, you won’t be out of the loop thanks to technology. All you need to do is carry your laptop, mobile phone or tablet and you’re plugged in. However, along with that comes vulnerability and risks.

If you are not careful about how and where you use your devices, you may end up having a vacation data disaster! The data lost may be personal in nature like your family’s pictures on the beach, or it could be business related to your profession. There are many ways you can lose data from your devices when away from home. Data could be simply lost due to carelessness which damages the hard drive. While vacationing, laptops and hard drives can face a relatively harsher climate than what you have in your home or office. Whether you are camping, trekking, doing road trips or simply lying on the beach or by the pool extreme variations in temperature and moisture, exposure to sunlight and sand and mechanical jolts and rough handling all make your hardware prone to crash. Mobile phones and tablets can accidentally get dropped in swimming pools; you get the picture.

Besides different environments which can impact data, theft of laptops and phones is the number one reason data is lost. Laptops are stolen mainly from airports, hotels, restaurants, and crowded locations such as subways and train stations. It is no coincidence that these busy locations are where the majority of thieves target their victims. It’s not only the price of the laptop they are interested in. Sometimes the data inside could be valuable as well. The wi-fi provided in most hotels, and cyber cafes are not secure, and almost anyone can have access to your data if they want. By gaining access inside your hard drive, they can delete and manipulate your programs and access your passwords which could also provide entry to business sites.

So what should you do? As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Don’t let your laptop or phone out of your sight.

Tips on How to Protect Data When Traveling

  • Don’t ever leave your valuables unattended in a hotel room or car.
  • Lock them up in room hotel safe, even if you plan to be out of your room for just a few minutes.
  • Use a portable travel safe to secure them in a vehicle, hotel room or by the pool.
  • Transfer data to a flash drive or portable media device and lock it up.
  • Backup to the cloud regularly.
  • Carry your devices in a travel bag, day bag, or purse with anti-theft features.
  • Wear your bag crossbody style when in a crowd.

Physically protecting your devices is the number one data theft prevention activity. Regularly changing your passwords and updating your antivirus software are also good practices. Encryption is generally more reliable than passwords and should be used if the data is very sensitive to theft. Even if the data is lost, the thief will have a very hard time gaining access to it.

Lastly, before you leave home, make copies of all your important, irreplaceable files and store them safely at home, or even the cloud is now an important option too. A physical document organizer for your passport and credit cards will also come in handy.

Lastly, arrange your laptop and mobile phone data in such a way that it’s easier to backup and retrieve in case of loss like putting related documents in one folder. Make these practices habits and you’ll worry less, and enjoy your travels more.