GradGirl, which restaurant was this?

I've lived in Cambridge for years now and haven't been pickpocketed yet. But perhaps I've just been lucky.

The biggest pickpockets are in Washington D.C. and other State Capitals of this country.

And to top it all off, we pay those pickpockets because "it's their job."

A large number of people do carry health insurance cards, though. And a lot of those health insurance cards have your SS number on them. I know I had to explicitly request a card WITHOUT my SS# on it- it was not the default, and it was a bit of hassle to get one without it. You'd think that Aetna and Cigna and Blue Cross would be a little more aware of this sort of thing these days...

Cigna is supposed to be going to a different system of ID - but I was told that over a year ago.

Actually, the biggest pickpockets TRAVEL. They haunt big events, from sports and fights and races, to concerts, to conventions. And when they're professional enough to cross state lines they call themselves "wires" and "whiz players." Mere "pickpockets," according to the thieves themselves, are small-time local guys.

To address wahooflyer's last comment, credit cards ARE preferred by thieves. My husband/partner Bob Arno and I interview hundreds of them. One of their favorite things to do is get cash advances on the cards. They can do this in multiple, especially in cities with casinos, and get $60,000 in an hour.

To wck4: here's a remedy for health insurance cards that have your ss# on them: make a photocopy of it, CUT off the ss# (or part of it), and carry only the copy in your wallet.

How can they get a cash advance without showing an ID matching their face to the name on the card? Whenever I'm in Vegas I get asked for ID when using credit cards even for a 5.00 purchase.

Ah, great question. It's covered in depth in our book. Nutshell: they have a group of accomplices on standby. They call them "look-alikes." When the pickpocket gets a credit card and ID, he calls up the accomplice who looks most like the victim. The accomplice practices the victim's signature a time or two, then goes to collect the cash advance (which the thief applied for at a machine.) The harried teller or cashier takes a quick glance, sees a vague resemblance, and doles out the cash under pressure to serve the next person in line. On behalf of police, we have interrogated those who commit this particular M.O. Interesting, eh?

How about "electronic" pickpockets who steal your credit card # and name, then use a card reader/writer to dump them onto a hotel key card (or even a real credit card used for appearances)? They then can use the "credit card" at many stores at the self-serve card readers where the clerk doesn't ask to see the card (pretty much only Best Buy in my book ever asks to see it).

Not quite the same thing, but even more effective since the card holder doesn't know about the pickpocketing until either his card company sees something amiss (charges in two cities throughout the day, etc.) and hits it with a security flag, or he reads his next statement or has his card declined at the coffee shop... and less risky than using a stolen # online and having a drop-box for shipments that can be traced back to them.

Yes, that's known as skimming. Difficult to prevent. We often hand over our credit cards, and all it takes is for the clerk or waiter to swipe it through a tiny "skimmer" in his pocket (thus recording the card's info) before swiping the real transaction. It's a good idea to keep a close eye on your credit card transactions via the card's website.

You gotta be kidding about the state capitals! I mean, you don't read about the high crime rates in Pierre and Santa Fe too often.

As for Washington, I lived in DC for 10 years and was never a victim of any crime despite repeated late night outings in somewhat dicey neighborhoods. Of course, the parents of Chandra Levy might disagree with me on the safety of the nation's capital city.

But pickpocketing is far worse in Barcelona and many other European cities. Here you are more likely to have your credit cards info stolen via restaurant receipts, etc.

I think the poster was talking about the legalized pickpocketing carried out by federal and state taxation departments

The Au Bon Pain near the Kendall/MIT stop on the Red Line. Actually there are two ABP's there, one on either side of the street. I was in the one on the south side of the street.


I want to point out that even though I've been a victim of this crime, I don't think the government should have the right to indiscriminately stop people on the street and demand to see everything in their wallets just in case the person has been out pick-pocketing. Treating everyone as a suspect is dehumanizing to the point of cruelty - that's why I refuse to fly while the TSA is searching passengers like we're common criminals.