RIP pickpockets?
 

In a lockdown era where there are no tourists, I wonder if all the pickpockets that were rife in places like Paris, Rome etc are all gone?

Since there has been no one to pickpocket for most of the year, they are likely not gone, but just sitting at home collecting government subsidies while they lounge and watching TV. Guaranteed there will be a resurgence as soon as there are enough tourists to make pickpocketing a worthwhile endeavor once again.

They aren't all gone. Their targets seem to have shifted to locals first (and sometimes even each other), and the pickings may involve less cash.

The targets have shifted to increasingly the local elderly and women more than was the case before. Jewelry and phones are very popular items for thieves to grab, and they've been doing it across Europe in recent months too.

Back to Romania?

Not so much. Pickings in Romania aren't so rich as places more on the heavily beaten tourist paths in Europe. And most pickpockets seem to have been residents local to the big cities in Europe -- and not part of international roaming gangs or foreign thieves -- and thus are more readily able to pickpocket locals still.

I never know what to make of those English-speaking "travelers" who come around Scandinavia trying to do odd jobs at homes in one town before moving on to the next and then get noted for running off with stuff without finishing what they got paid to do. They didn't come around as much last year, but the Romanian beggars are still around in parts. It's just with less shoppers around they had to make a decision on whether to try their luck staying where its more expensive or going home where it's cheaper but the money doesn't come in like it used to come. On the other hand, with less crowds and less crowding, pickpockets modified course closest to home: going after their fellow countrymen and women -- more so those who come across as physically more vulnerable. And while robbing, having less foreign competition.