Beware of Theft in Rome
 

I don't know if I'm allowed to post this here, but just returned from several days in Rome and a Med cruise. I cannot tell you how may stories I heard about people being robbed in Italy. It was shocking.
One story I heard was a woman booking a hotel room at the desk at Termini Station and her purse was taken.
Another was a woman waiting at the train station in San Marino. A guy said there was something on her back. She said it looked and smelled like vomit. When she turned to see it he took her purse.
One more was about two young women who approached a man, each took him by an arm as if to flirt while a third ran up and grabbed his wallet.
So if this post stays here and you get to read it BEWARE.

Some it is bound to be true, but the travellers' world is also full of urban legends.

The first time I went to NY I was advised to always walk right in the middle of the pavement because if I stayed close to the kerb my bag would be grabbed from passing cars while if I stayed close to the buildings people would knife from doorways and grab my bag.

Seriously?

This is the dumbest post I've read in a while. Theft in Italy? New York?

Shocking. Just shocking.

There is a FT Scam thread, where it covers many similar scams around the world.

I've had all sorts of fun around the world, but am usually pretty careful.

you sure you not in barcelona(or nyc, or paris,venice or london???) we went to venice and to barcelona this year. the overheard conversations at breakfast"...i only put it down for a minute.....

thank god i am here in washington dc, and baltimore, where there is no crime.

On the contrary, after having lived in Rome for several years, I can say that the OP's scenarios are not at all in the realms of fiction.

Many of the stories came from Italians rather than expatriates - so probably give more credence to sceptics. The OP didn't mention the Vespa-rider-stealing-handbag-from-passing-pedestrian, for example - happened to a colleague of mine.

The Italian police just don't want to know. There was a famous article in The Economist in the late 1980s (things don't change!) where one of their reporters who was robbed in the street and had the registration of the car involved except for the last digit, went immediately to a police station. The police did nothing for two hours (said reporter saw them watching television in an adjacent room). When this was exposed in an article in The Economist, the Italian press claimed it couldn't be true because the reporter "refused" to give his name in the article. [The Economist had a strict policy of not naming its reporters].

Just watch your stuff. We were in Italy for two weeks last fall and didn't hear any stories like this.

I was in Rome a few weeks ago (late May). Do watch out for pickpockets in the subway. They tried to pick my wallet, but I was aware of it and put a stop to it. The exact same scenario also happened to me a few years ago: a lady (usually a gypsy) with a satchel or a bag would stand close to you. She'll use the bag to hide her hands from you while she explores your pockets. Both times, I grabbed her hand as it was in my pocket, and I seriously considered breaking one of her fingers.

Metro stations in Rome often have long escalators going up or down. I always try to use the stairs as they are less crowded and I get some exercise. If you do use the escalators, stand facing sideways so you can see both up and down. If you just look ahead (like 99% of the people), somebody can run by, yank your purse and disappear before you have time to react. I saw this happen in the Philippines.

Obviously you have to be carefull in all large cities around the world while traveling. But this video might learn you something(it was helpfull for me)! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO6CF...eature=related

The OP talks of hearing about theft. I can assure it's not myth. My husband and I were standing in the Piazza Barberini in Rome, taking our time to decide which direction we wanted to walk next, a mistake right there. A young boy of about ten came up on my left and asked the time. Despite knowing better, I instinctively started to look at my watch, raised my arm slightly and thought, this isn't good. Meanwhile my husband bumbed into me on my right, grabbed my arm and we took off, leaving behind two boys and a grown woman who was behind him and whom he knocked to the ground when we ran off. He said he only saw the boy, not the woman. In any event, she would have only taken a dummy wallet he carries in places that are subject to this sort of thing....carries his wallet in a buttoned blazer pocket and I only take one credit card, a comb and a lipstick in my purse. Saw a young lady sobbing at the ticket booth at the Colosseum. Had a dodgy experience in Madrid, but quickly moved away and blended into a crowd. Luckily never had anything taken, but it CAN happen.

The best advice was given to me by an Italian woman who was in the same sleeper cabin as me from Paris to Florence. She said to constantly put your arm over your bag, because there are syndicates who would slash through the front of the bag to access the contents, but they generally do not want you to get hurt so keep your arm across your bag!

Moneybelt....

Great invention.

Yes the money belt is a great invention. I use it on all of my trips Internationally.

Also on a more serious note when I studied abroad two years ago during one of our pre-departure meetings our professors who were traveling with us made a big point of how to avoid getting robbed or getting scammed. Just follow some common sense advice
1. Don't carry large amounts of cash. If you have to put it in your money belt.
2. Wear your purse like a messenger bag.
3. Wear All Backpacks the opposite way that you would usually wear them.
4. Don't stop for people trying to bother you just keep going.

So you have no fear of crime within the US?

I've personally felt far safer in Rome than in many US cities, including my own.

Depends where I am. I felt very safe in Europe to be honest. You just need to use common sense.

Regarding the US. Depends where I am. In my hometown No but if I am in Detroit yea sure.

I definitely feel more safe in Italy than in NY..

In every big city of the world there are countless stories of pickpockets, thiefs, etc..

Rome, Barcelona, London, New York, Paris, hundreds more..

I hope a seasoned traveller won't believe to every story he hear about pickpockets in a major city..

+1


(Every time I see this thread title "Beware of theft in Rome", I think "Beware the Ides of March" ;) )


At least the OP spared us the use of an exclamation mark...

Well this is timely. I was just catching up on my blog reading and look at today's entry from Revealed Rome (I think this blog is terrific):

How to Avoid Being Pickpocketed in Rome

And she ends her piece terrifically:
"So be aware, but relax. Pickpocketing isn't the only way to ruin a vacation—pickpocketing paranoia can, too!"

A pathetic trolling OP which luckily now is "ontheway"...

keep on movin' guys....


ps. San Marino is San Marino, NOT Italy.

A lot of traveling is constantly attempting to orient oneself to unfamiliar surroundings, which is in itself a distraction from paying attention to thieves attempting to work their shticks on you. At home, or in a city in your own country, this distraction is lessened (although inattention can cause other problems).

What we do:

1. We make ourselves be more alert at all times. This sounds obvious, but it's not all that easy to do when staring at Notre Dame or the Colosseum for the first time.

2. Money belt or other inside the clothing cache for large sums of money or plastic. These are readily available; got ours from Magellan's. I keep only a small amount of ready cash, (say €50 tops) in any outside pocket.

3. Cameras or similar gear are tougher. We got lucky on our first big trip in '97 and found something called the Healthy Back Bag. It comes in three sizes, and we bought the middle one. My wife and I take turns carrying it. It fits with great comfort across the chest, which is about the most secure spot. The only thing it's missing is a steel wire running through the strap to make it resistant to being cut.

4. If accosted by someone on the street, we try to exercise due caution, but if we interact with them, the one not involved "backs them up," literally watching where they can't see for someone to make their move.

5. We always know the phrases for such expressions as "Leave me alone!" in the local language, and are prepared to use them as loudly as possible. We have done this on a few occasions and are not in the least embarrassed by such things.

6. Except when needed, passports or other vital documents aren't touring around with us. Instead, they are in the room or hotel safe.

The above will obviously not prevent everything; no amount of preparation can. But I believe these precautions greatly reduce our exposure to the common scams run on tourists.

Since 1962, last 3 years ago, I can hardly count the times I've visited Italy, multiple stops in all the haunts of legendary crime, Rome, Naples, stc., but also such horrifyingly disreputable venues such as Venice, Rimini, Bari, Brindisi, Taranto, Messina, Palermo, Catania, Citavecchia, Livorno, Genoa, Rapallo & environs, and most nearby towns and better known inland attractions. Other than dealing with US sailors on the loose (long ago, as a Shore Patrol Officer - an assignment regularly drawn since I was the only officer on the ship with any Italian), I've witnessed minimal crime and heard relatively few credible accounts of the sort of things posters here become knicker-twisted over, far fewer indeed, than regularly read of here or would encounter on the wrong side of my home town.

Sure, there are pickpockets, and Naples has been the home of no little criminal activity since Caesars sat in Rome (or long before), but normal, sensible precautions seem to remove much of the risk and fly in the face of many accounts, often tall-taleish, of some of the sad fates involving tourists and their valuables. Scam artists? Sure, but fewer than Miami or Vegas... No, the Carabinieri don't routinely speak fluent English, but compared to LEOs in this country (aside from Spanish fluency along the Border), they are multi-lingual and pleasant in encounters.

I'm going to Rome come September, and to be honest, I'm not that worried.
I mean, if you look up things online about the Gare Du Nord in Paris, you'd think you'll be robbed in no time. Quite the opposite was true in my case, then again, I speak fairly fluent French with a slight Parisian accent, so I guess I blended in somewhat.
Something else I've noticed from personal experience is that if your phone isn't an iPhone (or possibly an SGS3), it's much less likely to get nicked. A friend of mine has had 2 iPhones nicked so far, I've had none nicked and my current phone is an HTC One X, so it's not like mine is cheap either.
The reasoning behind this is that the thiefs usually have no clue about the value of most smartphones (except for the ones everybody knows, like the iPhone).

We are a family of six, and were just there in June. Yes, we read and heard stories about pickpockets etc.... especially on the metros. We felt very safe in Rome, and had no problems whatsoever. We did try to blend in, by not purposely wearing a big fanny pack, or carrying a bagpack. The women in our group all carried purses and we never encountered any problems. I told my husband and son to just carry a few euros and just one credit card in case something did happen. Again, we felt quite safe.

Here's a suggestion for those overcome by temerity at the prospects of rampant criminal activity on Italian streets....

On a 2007 visit, I was recovering from an eye condition that had kept me in and out of an eye patch for several weeks. I took it along to wear in bright sunlight. Well, we hit an especially sunny October, so other than while driving (day time, in sun glasses), I wore the eye patch. out of doors.

Well, I was bearded, big and burly (although with age, some of the "burl" has transmuted to cellulite) and dressed accordingly, all in all, a bit of a "rough" look, longshoreman on holiday.

Lord, even the nice folks stepped aside on the sidewalk, predators gave me a wide berth, but then my wife refused to walk by my side, preferring to be a few feet ahead, able to disavow our affiliation.

Bulk up and buy an eye patch.;)

I was just on the CruiseCritic message boards and someone there reported using his ATM in Venice and a few hours later it was used in Rome. His suggestion was NOT to use ATMS outside the bank, use the ones inside. I didn't know there were ATMS inside the bank...is this pretty much true for all banks in Rome (where we will be going in October)?

ATM theft is not restricted to Italy. Here's something I just found that might help you:

How to Avoid ATM Scam or ATM Theft

And yes, it's always safer to use an ATM that's inside a bank vs on the street, whether you're in Venice California or Venice Italy. You're safer from thieves that may be watching you and will then follow you to rob you, and the machines themselves are less likely to be tampered with. But again, this is nothing specific to Italy.

Regarding ATMs in Rome, you'll see many banks have their ATMs set up in secure vestibules -little glass-enclosed rooms like big phone booths - requiring you to first use your ATM card to enter this secure area from the street, and then the space itself is very secure and highly monitored. I would use those types especially if it was late at night, or I've used ones right on the street in areas that to me seemed safe (and the "safe" aspect I determined in the same way I would at home in Los Angeles), so I've never had to go inside a bank in Rome. I also think it's advisable, as a general rule and not specific to Italy, to use ATMs during banking hours so that if something does malfunction you can rectify the problem on the spot (i.e. if your card gets chewed up in the machine).

and this is pretty much true all around the world

Indeed... I've been to Rome more times than I can count and never witnessed or experienced any crime whatever. Compared with a typical American city it's little short of preposterous to be worried about Rome.

Uh, I think you (and several other people on this thread) missed the humor in some people's posts -- i.e., they were actually mocking the OP's apparent lack of travel experience and/or life experience. Someone who is so easily shocked by the existence of crime in the world comes across as naive.

almost every morning at breakfast, one can overhear the same conversation....we just got to the restaurant(probably a bar) and i only set my purse down for a minute and it was gone.!!! i don't know what i'm going to do, because everything(this side of life blood ) is gone!!! when listening to this, turn the laugh track off.