 | Barcelona Pickpockets Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 102 |  |
 | |  |  | Pickpockets: Barcelona is a pretty safe town, but take care | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
There is a big problem about safety, noise and cleanliness in the old town area (Gothic Quarter and El Raval, so both sides of Las Ramblas). The city council had extraordinary meetings and recenntly put in force some new local regulations in order to find solutions to this problem... so it's not paranoia or a personal feeling. Said that, don't be too much concerned about your personal safety, Barcelona is a pretty safe town if you take care of yourself. Violent crime is really rare. At least in the areas you'll probably move, the problem is petty crime. How to protect yourself?? Just behave as you will probably do at home: you probably would not wander alone and drunk around an area you don't know well, or leave your belongings unattended in a crowded area, or carry a huge amount of money in an accessible pouch... will you? It's amazing how many people behave that way here. Later they wonder why they get in trouble! Of course, I'm not saying that being robbed is your fault, but all we can made the life less easier to criminals. As well, pickpockets do concentrate in the touristiest areas for obvious reasons, so be extra-careful there. One last remark: we locals usually do not behave in a different way than you probably do at home. We usually just don't pay much attention to strangers as we are on our own business. We don't approach people for no reason, don't call everybody 'my friend' and we DON'T TOUCH strangers. This is especially applicable to Barcelona, where we locals are know as quite 'cold' people (in comparison to Southern Spain). Therefore, suspect if anyone seems to be 'too much' friendly, better to be safe than sorry! Leave a Comment
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| | | | Pickpockets: A cut and grab trick | Tip Rating: | | | | |
This incident didn't happen to me personally, but it happened to a friend of mine and upset him quite a bit. He was with his girlfriend travelling up an escaltor in the metro, and just as they got on, three men (who appeared not to be together) got on around them and separated them. One man was in front, my friend came next, the other two men after that, and his girlfriend behind. As they got to the top, the top man dropped his cigarettes and stooped to pick them up, the men behind collided into my friend and the man in front and everyone got a bit jostled. My friend found it fairly amusing, and was a bit surprised to see the three men stoney faced, and everyone left in separate directions. A while later my friend realised his bum-bag (fanny-pack if you are from the US) had been cut off in the jostle, and that he no longer had it. Be very careful, there are a lot of these sort of things going on in Barca, although they tend to be petty theft rather than anything with violence involved. Leave a Comment
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| | | | Pickpockets: Deep Pockets | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Barcelona's one downfall. However, like with most places there are area to avoid. On my first trip, more pubs less clubs considering I was with the other half, there was no trouble at all. On my next trip there 2 of the seven of us who went were mugged, and we foiled two more attempts! First major danger area was Porto Olimpico, the scene for three of the four aforementioned events. First time was attempted on me. Having had a little too much alcohol, I had to quickly leave the pub, go around the corner and empty out. Not pleasant. What at first seemed like a helpful, concerned local boy patting me on the back whilst I threw up, turned out to be a clever and shameless attempt at my wallet! I looked down to see his hand wrist deep in my pocket! I soon removed his hand, and he casually walked off as if he'd done nothing wrong. Okay, perhaps that should have been a warning. I had gone home, being in the state I was, and later that very same night, the muggers were more succesfull. As my three mates waited on the steps leading down to the strip of clubs, a cleverly orchestrated snatch was conducted. One seemingly innocent bloke walked past Ben, when he suddenly grabbed and held him, within a flash another bloke had reached in to his pocket and had his wallett containing 200 euros and all his bank cards! Poor Ben was targeted again the very next week, in the same area, and without delving too deep in to what happened, he was more prepared the second time and all sorts of melee ensued. The other time occurred in LAS RAMBLAS and we didn't even see it happen, and didn't learn the extent of the theft until we returned home to Dorset. James had had his bank card stolen, and in two days the culprits had ran up a £1500 bill! Fortunately this was covered by insurance. That all sounds rather doom and gloom, and so I guess it's a testament to the city that I still managed to have a marvellous time over there despite all this! Leave a Comment
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| | | | Pickpockets: They are around.... | Tip Rating:  | | | | |
...and they will find you. Unfortunately, pickpocketers are growing quickly in Barcelona and they target tourists mostly. Many of them work in groups and while one is distracting you, the other is pickpocketing you. I just had one of those experiences. Javi and 2 friends were preacticing for a card tournament a a Pans & Company Restaurant (sandwiches), and I was reading; all the suden a white girl (scotish she said) with a baby came over and asked me if I spoke English (we are now guessing she heard my accent). Then she started to ask me questions about the area, where to find a phone card and such. Meanwhile, her partner sat in the chair behind, oppened my purse and pulled out my wallet and cell phone. An hour later she left and about 15 minutes later we did, and I realized my wallet wasn´t there. When we called to cancell credit cards and phone line, they had made charges to our account for over 1,000 euros and made phone calls all over the world. And this with 3 really tall guys right there. When we went to report to the police station, we ran into 2 different ladies (locals) who had ran into the same couple. PD-Insurance does not cover this kind of event; they only cover if someone runs out with your purse and there is some kind of violence. We did get our money back from the Credit card charges, but because we have a special insurance for that. Leave a Comment
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