I am a Japanese American woman: small, fairly innocent looking, usually alone, and a target for pickpockets.
I have lived in Madrid for over 9 months and have experienced a variety of attempted robberies. Unfortunately, one must be very careful when visiting Madrid because one of the sneakiest professions is pick pocketing and rarely can the police do anything about it.
I have only been robbed once (knock on wood) towards the beginning of my stay. I took my eyes off my backpack for 5 seconds and when I looked again, it was gone. These are not street kids looking for entertainment, these are professionals.
Tips for preventing purse snatching
Listed below are some tips on how to avoid being a victim of pickpocketing, whether you are a small, fairly innocent looking person and usually alone or not:
- Do not put your purse or bag on the floor, not even in between your legs. If you have absolutely no other option, make sure that the straps are securely wrapped around your leg and your bag is completely closed.
- Be wary of the metro. If someone is too close to you or is pushing you while you are entering or leaving the car, he/she might be causing a distracting sensation so that you don’t notice he/she is searching through the contents of your purse.
- If someone approaches you on the street and sticks a piece of paper between your face and your purse, beware. While you’re listening to why that person wants your signature or asks you to locate a destination on a map, their hand may be inside your bag.
- If you see a nicely dressed man with his jacket lying over his forearm, he might be a thief. Under his coat is the perfect hiding spot for snatching your valuables.
- If you have your luggage with you and you are switching trains at the metro from the airport line, beware. Thieves will automatically think you are a tourist, especially if you are Asian, and target you.
- If you get on the metro and suddenly you are surrounded by a bunch of people, you might be standing in the middle of a gang of thieves. Usually they don’t move to make room for you or make eye contact, but just keep you trapped so that your eyes look for a way out while someone’s hand is in your purse.
- If you feel your purse or bag move and it is not a blustery day or you are not somewhere packed in like a sardine, look around. If the person standing next to you looks a bit suspicious but does not look you in the eye, beware.
- When sitting in a public place, do not hang your bag on the back of your chair. Instead, keep your bag on your lap or resting behind your body where you can feel it at all times.
As a woman who travels alone, it is especially important for us to be aware of our surroundings. We must always know where our valuables are and protect them. Though this certainly cannot be true for all cases, from my personal experience, the majority of the thieves were men (though one cannot omit women) who looked like they came from outside Spain (such as South America or Eastern Europe) or were gypsy like folk. They normally stake out the unwary on public transportation or in touristy areas.
If you do get robbed…
Take note of exactly what was taken. If it was your wallet, immediately cancel all your credit cards and report stolen identification. Right after a robbery, the thief will try to withdrawal as much cash as possible from your credit cards. If your passport was taken, report it to your embassy or consulate as soon as possible.
You should go to the Police Station and file a report right after the robbery. It will be a lengthy process, for it is a daily occurrence in Madrid. You might spend a good number of hours there until you are finally finished with the bureaucracy. In the majority of cases, your belongings will not get recovered, but you might be able to claim them under your insurance.
Police station where you can file a report from the city center: Calle Leganitos 19 (close to Metro Plaza de España).
Photos originally posted by Antonio Martin and Abdallah Aberouch
Topic: How to Tuesday |
9 Comments
Tags: Madrid, safety tips
About the author
Tomoko is a Japanese American woman who has been living outside of the USA for 3 years now, quitting her job in Chicago to study in Edinburgh, Scotland and Madrid, Spain. As a small, independent female and ethnic person who enjoys traveling alone, her perspective of the world is a bit different. And other peoples' perspective of her is a little bit different as well.
9 responses to “How to avoid pickpockets in Madrid”
Report an inappropriate commentJanuary 31st, 2008 at 10:21 pm
One lesson: don’t go to Puerta del Sol. Madrid pickpocketing expertise came as areal surprise to us, i.e. my wife had her wallet taken off her purse in less than a blink while I was next to her. I mean: we travelled through many places around the world, some of which, like Peru, are known for “making no prisoners” (in particular if you take local buses to go around, like on the La Paz to Puno route), and we always got home with all our belonging, while even locals gor their share. But not in Madrid: I speak spanish, we don’t look like tourists, I’ve been to Madrid before but, at Puerta del Sol, we got hit. My wife felt her purse moving, looked around and a young lady next to her indicated someone running away: it was half a second, I realized the mistake made taking my eyes off to follow her advice, and … she had gone. Simple, easy, … successful. At the police station, we learned that Puerta del Sol is a guaranteed place for this; at the airport, declaring that “no, my ID was in the purse…” they finished the sentence “… at Puerta del Sol, of course”. Just don’t go there, it is not even worth.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:47 am
Puerta del Sol is the meeting point for everyone so it is not unusal to see people just standing around. And if you do notice immediately that you were pickpocketed and the person nearest to you points in one direction, do not be so quick to assume that this person might not be the pickpocket. It happened to me after I noticed my backpack was gone and ran out of the bar I was in. A fat guy on his mobile phone pointed down the road, in which I quickly ran down. He had been communicating to his pickpocket partner hiding in the bathroom of the bar when it was safe to come out and by the time I got back, they were both gone.
I still go to Puerta del Sol to meet up with friends but now I wear a luggage lock on the zipper pulls of my purse. Not only does it make it easier to feel it moving, should thieves attempt, and they have, but it is also a turn off for those that realize there is a security system on it since they just want to go for the easy kill. It could be the next fashion statement, ladies.
February 7th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
This is a good article. The tips you give for recognizing and avoiding trouble are good. I want to add that most Spanish men carry a small wallet and they put it in a front pocket. While standing in a line or in a crowd they keep their hand in their pocket. I used to think it was just to look cool, but they’re protecting their wallet from pickpockets. I would not advise anyone to carry anything – not even a comb – in a back pocket. Those distract and snatch pairs of people you write about can be a problem, too. And if you do get pickpocketed and people sense you’re a tourist you won’t get any sympathy. I saw this happen a couple of times during the years I lived in Madrid. Spanish people put up with a lot of crap including this small class of foreign criminals who can make a career and a living stealing from other Spaniards and tourists.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Hello. Nice article.
I’m glad you liked my picture. It really illustrates well your article.
See you!
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Does it do any good to have a decoy wallet with nothing in it in your back pocket? What about cell phones?
January 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Wow very interesting article. I am an Asian female from the US, and I”m looking into traveling to Madrid (alone) I’m not sure where to start, I know that I need to save up some money, to begin with. But it’s good to know what precautions to take. Looks like you are very adventurous to travel the world alone. I know I’ll get around to this someday, it’s the waiting part that’s hard. Cool article
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I just came back from a 1-day stop in Madrid. At the Metro station, I was told that a woman tried to pick my pocket twice. I was buying Metro tickets at the airport station and I was told that the woman followed me downstairs and put her hand in my pocket again. I only felt it the second attempt but I didn’t know my pocket was being picked. Fortunately, nothing was stolen because my pcoket was really packed making it difficult to get things out. I am also lucky I didn’t lose the family passports, although I think I would have felt that. I was lucky again to not lose my wallet, which was in my back pocket, which did not have a button to secure it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
For guys, I highly recommend they use a money belt, one that you tie to your waist under your shirt, especially if you are going to be carrying around passports.
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Me and my friends were targeted every night (at least 5-6 times a night) in Puerta Del Sol.
It is common to find South American and North African men outside many of the bars and restaurants.
Their tactic is to talk about Football and then pretend they are Kaka or Ronaldinho trying to take the ball round you. While they do this a second person will stand behind waiting to strike.
A firm “NO” will send them packing as pickpockets don’t like confrontation. If that doesn’t work a firm push can be used. (they won’t retailiate as they don’t want trouble and don’t want to cause a scene for obvious reasons).
I enjoyed playing along and then wait till I felt the hand, their reaction to being caught makes it worth while.
Leave a comment