Watch out for pickpockets in London

If you’re coming to London this summer you should take particular care with wallets and personal belongings, especially in the West End and on the Underground because the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union has brought an influx of pickpockets to London. People from those countries and Albanians are also behind a lot of the crime involving cashpoints at banks and the cloning of bankcards.

As the Evening Standard story above shows, the problem has gotten so big the police in Westminster have wasted time printing up a list of Romanian phrases for their officers to try and use with suspects as the Romanians claim not to speak English when stopped. If the police tried slamming them into a brick wall face first I think they’d find the suspects spoke more English than they let on.

Watch out for the gypsy women beggars in central London who carry around kids that they’ve drugged to keep asleep. They carry bits of paper they push into your face asking for money and there are usually a couple of male members of their group close by, either to pick your pocket or to jump in if you forcefully tell the woman to get lost.

London is a pickpockets playground in summer, tons of people that get crammed together on the transport system and around some of the major tourist sites. Its best just to take the essentials with you when you go out for the day and spread your money and valuables around your pockets. One things for sure there’s going to be no shortage of modern day Artful Dodgers arriving from Eastern Europe this year.