The rise of pickpocketing in Europe's top tourist destinations

FROM Madrid to Paris, Rome and Venice, tourists are increasingly being targeted by gangs of pickpockets that can ruin a holiday in these historic European cities.

- TERRY VAN DER WALT

For South Africans who feel they’re under siege by criminals, spare a thought for visitors to some of the capitals of the world, where pickpocketing has become an endemic problem that authorities are struggling to curb.

Loud yells of “pickpocket, pickpocket!” ring out in the streets and at train stations as vigilant citizens warn others of the presence of known criminals moving among them, whether it is in Spain’s Barcelona, Rome in Italy or the canals of Venice.

Also, there's no way of knowing who is a petty criminal and who is not.

They mingle in the crowd, taking advantage of bottlenecks on stairways, narrow alleys or train doors where being pushed and shoved provides a perfect disguise for their nefarious activities. But they don’t always get away with it.

Caught red-handed: In a recent viral video, an American tourist in Venice was not about to be taken for a ride by a group of teenage suspects.

She grabbed the ponytail of the one suspect, refusing to let go because her passport and purse had been taken from her bag in broad daylight.

Some of the culprits are young teenagers, and after watching just a few videos posted by a YouTuber called Guardian of Rome, you quickly get to recognise their faces as they jump on or off trains in twos or threes, always just as the doors are opening or closing.