Read up if you're tempted to follow the rubber-band wallet tactic. Who best to tell you how to avoid pickpockets straight from the mouth of one?
Presuming you're a dude, I am sure the natural inclination is to stuff your wallet into the back pants pocket, which is a ripe place for a pickpocket. But if you're in a place like Rome, which happens to be infamous for its petty crime, you may want to take heed and an extra dose of precaution.
Now I don't know who Bob Arno is-once supposedly a comedian pickpocket who now specializes in street crime against tourists-but he says (or his pickpocket friends say, rather) that the easiest trick for deterring theft is by turning the wallet sideways into your pants pocket.
The wallet's opening, where the bills are kept, should be placed down.
I don't know what the reasoning is behind this. Maybe it is to give the pickpocket less surface space to grab on to. Or less finger traction.
Unfortunately, I don't steal wallets for a living, so I can't tell you.
The more common trick to deter thieves, shown in this incredibly hilarious police education video (I'm seriously flashbacking to the '80s here, by the way), is to put a rubber band on the wallet.
….The rubber band creates friction and rubs against the fabric of your pocket if someone is attempting to remove it without your knowledge.
Arno says this doesn't work. It would make sense that wallet thieves, after a while, would just figure out another way to get around the rubber band.
Unless you happen to get a noobie pickpocket.
Our part-time cavalier-who happens to be more well-traveled than yours personally-Andy Chu says he'll stuff his wallet especially fat so he can always feel it. In situations where he feels more on guard, he'll put his wallet in a front jeans pocket.
If putting it in the front is not an option, the other alternative might just be to design your own Hack a Day rubber band wallet, complete with automatic alarm. Though it might just be kind of annoying to have an alarm go off every time you need to pay for something.
