WEBVTT - Pickpockets: Artists or Crooks? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.479 from House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.400 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. This is Charles W. Chuck 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.640 Bryant whiting his whistle. Uh and uh, the stuff you 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.640 should know? This is the podcast. Yeah, it's is off 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:34.360 to a terrible start. Good again, that's what consecutive bad starts? Oh, 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.360 we haven't hit four yet. Yeah, what bad starts are 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:43.440 just shows? Okay, maybe bad starts. Yeah, shows, we're coming 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:45.800 up on it. You gotta be close to four fifty, right, No, 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.199 coming up on four? I think I thought we were 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.760 over that. No, not yet. No, we would mention our 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.199 four hundred show. My goal is for us to make 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.200 it the five hundred and then after that all bets 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:00.680 are off the out. It's exactly right, right, So, uh, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:03.920 what's your I think I might know what your intro is, 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:05.720 but that would be a wild stab in the dark. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:08.440 I'd like to hear it because I don't have an intro. 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.080 Oh really, yeah, what's my intro? Well? I got one then, Okay, 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:14.200 the origin of the word sidekick? Have you ever heard this. 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:17.479 What does that have to do with pickpockets. I'll tell 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.480 you my friend back in the old days in London, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.400 which is uh, you know obviously Oliver Twist made pickpocketing 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:31.320 very famous in London. Well, yeah, his character, Uh, they 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.720 had different their own language. It was will find out 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.200 his pickpockets have their own language period, all sorts of lingo, 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:42.080 like multiple names for everything. Uh. And back in the day, 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:47.160 they each pocket had its own name. The jerve j 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.840 E r V or the hair Vey was the vest 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.400 pocket and the kick I'm sorry, the pratt was a 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.400 back pocket and the kick was a side pocket. And 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.800 the kick was the most cult spot to to pickpocket 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:03.919 because it was on the leg and it was always moving, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.080 and so people soon realized that that was the safest 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.840 place to put their stuff was in the sidekick. And 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.400 so the sidekick years later becomes a term for, you know, 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:20.760 someone helpful and maybe protective, Tonto like Tonto. So that's sidekick. Huh, 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.560 that's that's your first interest. I believe it is. I 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.000 would have picked a better one. It's no, that's fantastic. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.120 That one's gonna go down and stuff. You should know 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.600 lore as the sidekick, and that was my first, but 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:36.440 I don't know barely appropriate. Do you remember when we 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:38.680 used to argue about that about whether you were or not? 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.920 What do we settle on that you're not? Okay? But 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:48.320 I know where to originates from Oliver Twist from the Sidekick. Well, 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.760 what's funny is there's a lot of stuff that has 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.960 to do with pickpocketing, Chuck, that did originate for from 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.280 Oliver Twist. Oh really Yeah, Like you were talking about, 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.720 like pickpocketing has it's only and go you said, um, 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.799 And it's kind of storied and almost legendary, and if 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.880 you dial the clock back a few decades, like it was, 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.359 UM kind of looked upon the way that maybe today 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:17.280 people look upon um pirates, you know what I'm saying, 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.920 Like they're criminals, but there there's so much art to 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.960 what they're doing. Maybe like somebody who could steal a 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.960 painting from a museum that you have to at least 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:32.480 grudgingly respect them. Well, and we'll talk to uh, we'll 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.320 not talk to we'll talk about some people to study this. Yeah, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:38.000 I wish someone is here. Is that what this guy 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.480 is doing exactly? He's lifting your wallet? Um. In this 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.040 article you found from Slate that there were some experts 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.120 on you know, pickpocketing, and they they definitely think of 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.080 it as an art lost art. Specifically, I want to 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.360 mention the guy's named Bob Arnold, whose job it is 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.880 to travel the world and pose as a mark as 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.640 a tourist and then catch people and figure out what 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.320 they're doing interesting to keep abbreast of it. Yeah, so, um, chuck, 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.160 let's talk a little bit about the basics of pick pocketing, right, 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.080 which I think kind of give us a better view 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:15.360 of why people think that it's an art form. Um. 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.320 There's you've got a few different kinds of people involved. 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:23.400 Like there's uh, the low level pickpockets, who are really 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:28.640 just basically somebody who has uh a moral compass that's 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:33.440 off and um, an open bag next to him. Yeah, 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:38.960 the opportunist, Like, Hey, there's a co ed studying econ 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.280 one O one on the lawn and she's got her 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.160 iPad sticking out of her open backpack right next to her, 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.360 right which she has her headphones jacked into it turned 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.680 up all the way and is not paying attention because 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.600 she's been drinking. Well, if the headphones are on her 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:02.960 attached to the iPad, then the person is grabbing the iPad. Well, sure, oh, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:04.680 I thought you meant like there was a person next 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.120 to her that was open and the iPads in there. 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.480 She's not studying with the iPad are only for Netflix, 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.800 and that's what I thought she was deserving. She's studying. Right, 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.200 Maybe we're talking about a different person, which one I 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.520 think we've just compled to the easiest mark there there is, right, 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.600 which is the unassuming college students. Right. Or you're at 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.280 like a coffee place or something like that, and there's 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:27.880 somebody next to you, and it's the kind of place 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.080 where you would expect somebody's going to be next to you, 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.240 and you're not really paying attention. You're involved in your 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.440 computer and their hands in your bag grabbing your wallet 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.080 or whatever. Or your sleep on the beach very common one. Yeah, 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:42.240 that one stinks because you want to be able to 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.960 sleep on the beach. You have your bag open next 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:46.680 to you, in your wallet sitting in it at a 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:48.640 coffee house and you're not paying attention to it. You 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.560 got what you deserved. If somebody steals, I mean it 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.480 stinks that there are people out there stealing in general, 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.400 and that you can't just go through life like that, 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.039 but we all know full well that you can't go 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.200 through life like that, and if you do, then you 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.120 have no right to complain. You can't even cancel all 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:05.440 of your credit cards. You have to leave one of 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.159 your credit cards open because punishment, Yes, that's punishment to yourself. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.919 Uh well, we also we actually skipped to why people 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:17.000 pickpocket to begin with. It's mainly because it's pretty non 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.560 confrontational crime and you're never known or confronted, and you're 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.200 you're not like holding a gun, so there's no although 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.160 we did find out it's a felony a lot of states, 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.920 even just non weapon involved pickpocketing. Yeah, but it wasn't. 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.080 That's pretty new, is it. Yeah, for a very long time, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.280 it was like if you picked somebody's pocket, you got 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.679 very It was a small sentence. You had to return 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.680 the money and apologize pretty much. Yeah, the cop brought 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.320 you over by your ear exactly. But um, for the 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.560 most part, like you said, it's not confrontational, So the 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.480 person who loses his or her wallet to a pickpocket 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.000 will probably have no idea who took it, won't know 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:01.440 for a long time. Um, And it's fairly safe if 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.440 you're good at it. It's safe crime. Yeah. Plus there's 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:10.160 no weapons involved, which is why the sentences were traditionally 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.720 not very big. It's almost victimless except for the victim 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.720 you know, Well it depends. I mean, if you're touring 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.080 Europe and you have everything including your passport and your 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:23.920 wallet in your back pocket and all of it's taken, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.440 that is, there's a victim in that one. I knew 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:29.960 a victim in all of them. I knew a girl 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:35.320 who had her sunglasses ripped off her face and roam Italy. Okay, 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:42.760 that's not artful. Snatch guys, that's not artful, just a jerk. Um. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.040 There was at the Starbucks by my old place, there 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.760 was a rash of kids just running in and stealing um, 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.640 people's iPhones right off the table and running out or 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.680 out of their hand, or stealing the computer that they 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:57.840 were working on the laptop and running out the door. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.320 And there's a guy who has a coffee place in 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.800 um Grant Park that his there was just a robbery 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.320 and everybody was robbed um in that manner like people 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.240 just ran in and stole and ran out. Um. So 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.640 the guy's getting locks for the table so you can 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.400 slide your laptop in and lock it in place. Yeah, 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.800 that's sad that you have to do that, all right, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.280 So where are we crowded subway? Yes, this is the 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:33.440 slightly higher in the hierarchy of pickpockets. Make it sound 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:37.720 effect here, Well, how about this, chuck. One of the 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:39.440 things I think that Um kind of gets to the 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:44.040 point across when you're describing pickpocketing, sure is saying when 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:48.720 you're talking about a scam, saying the old first, right, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.960 and having maybe like old timey ragtime saloon music playing 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.959 in the background while you're describing it. So go ahead 0:08:55.000 --> 0:09:00.520 with that. Jerry's like on the fly, um, crowded subway car, 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:05.719 which is called the old sandwich or sandwich for those 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:07.680 of you who are a little more proper. And that's 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.160 a lot of times these pickpockets working teams because you're 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.440 counting on the benefit of distraction. Yes, so tell him 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.400 how the old sandwich works. Well, the sandwich is a 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.040 you got a person in front who's called the stall, 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.560 and the stall suddenly maybe stopped short, um, and and 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:32.000 the person the target bumps into him, the mark. Yeah, 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.000 and then the hook or the pick or the wire Okay, 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:39.720 Um bumps into him it's expected that somebody behind you 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:41.760 would bump into you because it's the jerk's fault in 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.400 front of you. So you're paying attention to the jerk 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:46.920 in front of you while the guy behind you you 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.520 turn around and apologized to and after you know by 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:52.599 that time, the guy's already stolen your wall. So the 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:55.680 person in front of you ends up stalling it of 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.400 you is the stallk who you're like, why did you stop? 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.720 And while you're stopped, the guy who bumped in behind 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.240 you the hook was stolen you, Walt, I thought why 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:05.040 they turned around and said, boy, I'm sorry for this 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:06.679 jouk in front of me. They might have been stealing it. 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.760 I guarantee you. That's a variation on it that's called 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:15.800 the sandwich wrap, the low car wrap, Chuck. There's also 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:21.280 um so the people who who do the sandwich working teams. Um. 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.640 The team is actually called a cannon. Yeah. So that's 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.320 a group of organized pickpockets. Twist and his buddies exactly, 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:32.520 lead appropriately enough then by a Fagan, which is an 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:36.400 old hook, an old pick, an old master pickpocket who 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:42.000 um is named after, Um the crime boss in Oliver Twist, Right, Yeah, 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:47.319 Um and the fagon teaches younger pickpockets the ropes and 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.840 absorbs them into the cannon over time. What was that 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.559 movie that they mentioned, Oliver Twist. Well, now there was 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:55.840 another Harry in your Pocket. I think, yeah, that's what 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:57.920 it's called. I haven't seen it, but it's a James 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.320 Coburn movie from seventy three. Got believe that I will 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.640 be seeing you. Got no h no complaints there. So 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.200 a cannon is probably going to be the people who 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.320 are really good at what they're doing, because there's an old, 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.560 venerable guy leading the whole thing. Then you go down 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.760 like a couple of notches. You've got um bag workers 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:22.120 who like go for purses, right, yeah, mole buzzers are 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.640 I guess that's probably the English version. Well there, that 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.280 takes some skill because you're getting close to somebody, right, 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:36.320 um lush workers not that that hard. On the subway, 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.320 A lush worker would just target somebody who was coming 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:41.680 home drunk on the subway and they just, I guess, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.319 open up their vests and take their wallet out and 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:46.160 close their vests, smack the guy in the face with 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.720 the wallet and then wait for the subway to arrive 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.240 at it stopped not very hard, so they were viewed 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:56.480 um kind of lower level E. But did you read 0:11:56.520 --> 0:12:00.440 about the fob workers. Yeah, that was and it's hard 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.800 to say respect again because these are criminals, but the 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.960 fob worker really puts in his or her time, right, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.800 So like this person just uses nothing but his index 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.520 finger and his middle finger boom yeah um, and just 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:14.640 walks through a subway on a on a ride and 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.880 just grabs like a couple of quarters, a dollar or 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:21.280 whatever's easy to grab. And apparently this one guy estimated, 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:25.080 um I think it was an old subway dick um. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.720 He estimated that fob workers could get like four hundred 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.400 bucks out of a single subway ride. That's crazy. Well 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.600 that's probably from like Wall Street to Coney Island. But 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:41.080 this is like the eighties, nineteen eighties exactly, you know, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.400 not even eighteen eighties. Uh. Well, I saw where one 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.520 guy actually went to class in the nineteen sixties. I 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.160 don't know if it was in this article or another one, 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:55.319 but paid a fagan to teach him the art of pickpocketing. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.440 That was probably in that popular science article from the sixties, 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.200 this late article reference, Oh, I know what it was. 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:02.640 It was from the New York Times, but it was 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.719 an archived edition. Nice, So what do you learn how 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.320 to pickpocket? Right? Did he write about it or did 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.480 he say, like you can tell you, I'd have to 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.199 kill you. Well, the article was just on the lingo, really, 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.760 and then it's sourced the source of where the guy 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:19.400 got the lingo from, and it was this dude that 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.760 said he went to school. Yeah, uh, what else do 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:26.480 we have? Child? Children? Sadly, and a lot of countries 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:31.120 will pick Remember the human trafficking episode, we talked about 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.840 children being forced to beg guarantee that there are some 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:39.400 out there that are forced to pickpocket. Well, distracting once again, 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.400 the working in pairs, look at my shiny toy, or 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.280 while they're begging you, the other kid will come up 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.880 and you know, reach a little tiny hand in the pocket, 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.599 the old tiny hand, the old tiny hand. Trick um. 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.840 This one was my favorite chuck up. Apparently it's fairly 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:01.520 common to throw bird droppings on somebody so viciously then 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:04.440 offered to help clean it off. That is, I've read 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.520 this because I didn't believe that, and I saw people 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.120 on trip Advisor who it's not bird droppings, it's like 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.240 fake bird droppings and they'll sling it on people and 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.120 then they come up and go, oh god, I can't 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.960 believe that happened. Are you okay? Like, here's the towel. 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.120 You know, it's crazy. It just dawned on me. Um, 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:23.840 you mean and I were in New York once. I 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.400 think it was when we were on the Whatever show. Um, 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.720 when you and I were on the Whatever Show, and um, 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.240 we were standing in line at the shake shack. Is 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.560 at the name of the place it's in, Um, one 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.640 of the parks. What is it? Oh? Sure by park? 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.520 I can't remember. Yeah, I think that's what it is. Okay, So, um, 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:46.680 I think it is a shake scheck. Anyway, Um, we're 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:51.120 standing in line and this guy got bird droppings. It 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.640 fell right around him in a circle, didn't hit him, 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:58.440 And it made no sense physically how that happened. And 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:00.960 now I wonder if somebody was trying to pick his 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.840 pocket and failed, or else if they did and just 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.560 distracted him and didn't offer to help clean it off. Well, 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:07.440 the other trick I saw similar to this could have 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.720 happened there too, because apparently catchup and mustard, they'll squirt 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.880 that on you in a food line and then say, oh, 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.000 you know, I gott catch up on you here, let 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.240 me wipe that off, and while I do, let me 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:23.440 take your wallet. Let's help you old mustard trick. They'll 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.160 stage a fight. Maybe yeah, a couple of different guys 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.720 will stage a fight, and while you're distracted, the third 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.360 guy will come around and pick everybody's pockets. Basically, if 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.880 something suddenly happens out of the ordinary in um public, 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.040 you want to cover up your valuables. But you want 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.760 to be smart when you do that, because sometimes that 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:46.720 is a ploy in and of itself. You think you're 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:52.160 one step ahead of the pig pocket as well. Sometimes 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:54.600 you'll be on that crowded subway and someone will say, hey, 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.560 somebody just took my wallet. So of course the instinct 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.480 for everyone around that person is to pat their pocket 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.520 where their money or while it is. And of course 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.080 the other pickpocket on the train is going okay, left 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:14.200 front pocket sidekick, uh vra chevra jevra, what is it? Hairy? 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.440 Whoever has the best pocket, which would be in Brooklyn? 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:21.120 I guess little hipsters with best and uh boom done. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.360 You just told him where your money was, and um, 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.560 I think in an even funnier way is when somebody 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.920 warns you to look out for pickpockets as a way 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.480 to get you to like pat where your wallet it is? Yeah, 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.120 which is like just pickpocket telling you look out for 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.200 pickpockets so you'll show them where your wall it is. 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.800 It's beautiful, Josh, you said anything unusual happening to you. 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.240 For instance, the very attractive woman came up to me 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.560 hitting on me, that would be very unusual. I would 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.120 probably know to feel around for my wallet because men 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.040 can be dummies when it comes to the charms of 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.680 an attractive woman. Yeah, you know the way to uh, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.920 the way to get around that one. How's that morals 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.640 have more? Yeah, what do you mean? Just be like, madam, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.240 I'm afraid I'm taking. Oh, well, if you're taken, but 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.400 if you're not, you're like, hey, you know what I'm saying. 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.800 I wasn't saying me obviously years ago. Oh got you 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:19.480 single check? Uh on the beach or compassion. If they're 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.719 on the beach, you might have someone pretend they're drowning, 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.440 like everyone rushes out there, and then all of a 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.959 sudden you have blankets full of purses and beach bags. 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:30.560 Or you might drop some change on the floor and 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.640 be like, oh, I'm so dumb, or your shopping bag. 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.280 Somebody might drop their shopping bag, and as a nice person, 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.679 you're gonna help him up. So the it's good on 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.080 one hand to have morals if you're in a committed relationship. 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.760 It's bad on the other hand to have morals if 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:51.480 you help people pick their bags up. This strange world 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.520 we live in, chuck it is um. You also probably 0:17:55.600 --> 0:18:00.520 can't pick a pickpocket out in a crowd. I'll apparently 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:05.760 one of the longstanding traditions is UM to dress very 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.080 well sure, uh, like a wealthy business person, or at 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:14.000 least a business person. Yeah in this economy, right, yeah, exactly, 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.200 Um and uh yeah, that's a good one. Walk around 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.320 with a map and a camera around your neck. And 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:24.200 they'll also, um frequently have things to hide their hands, 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.320 whether it's a newspaper, a coat folded over their hands, 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:33.160 or a baby, a live human baby. Uh you mentioned, 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.280 uh when you would tell them inadvertently where your money was, okay, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.960 And sometimes it will just either call it the stroke 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.040 or the fan, the old stroke, and that's when they 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.920 will kind of pre pickpocket you and just sort of 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.320 feel around where your wallet might be bulging from to 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.920 set you up for assumed to be picked pocket. So 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:56.800 how do you how do you get around this? Carry 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.080 a gun and shoot people to get too close. Yeah 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.399 that's one way, um, I think the uh that's the 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:09.080 Bernard gets way, Ums Brunson way. Thank you for doing 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.800 that on behalf of everyone listening to this episode. Thanks 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:19.040 Chuck um the The basically, the best way to prevent 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.520 pickpocketing is to be aware. You know, like I said, 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.399 if anything unusual happens out in public, just you need 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.159 to be aware. You should be aware anyway, if you 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.920 look like you're confident of where you are. Um, even 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.840 if you're a tourist, if you look like you are 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.440 aware of your surroundings, they're probably gonna pass you over. 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:43.800 For ned from which top falls? Who has like um 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.040 uh sunscreen on his nose and like a fisherman's cap. 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:52.359 And oh and whether you're trying to prevent pickpocketing or 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:57.360 just in general, you should never ever wear socks with sandals. Yeah, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.760 this is dead giveaway. You're an instant mark. You got 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.200 that looking. We're all sorts of crime, that's right. Uh. 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.040 If you're traveling in other countries and other countries is 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.199 where it's likely going to happen. Because we'll discuss here 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:11.639 in a minute how it's not as big of a 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.119 problem here in the US anymore. Canada, that's right, but 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.560 in uh really all over the world except for North 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.800 America or at least the United States of Canada, it's 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.320 still a big problem. So you don't want to carry 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.720 your wallet in your back pocket like a big dummy 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.400 front pocket is safer. Money belt is even safer than 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.200 that money belt under your clothes. I'm wearing one right now. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.480 You really I did when I traveled through Europe, did 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.560 you really? Yeah? I just can't bring myself too. They're 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.600 just they're so stupid looking now they are when you 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:46.400 go to pay for something and you gotta like reach 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.840 it down in there, and it's like flesh colored like 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.280 what they're trying to make it look like your credit 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:56.360 cards just levitating against your stomach. But uh, I did 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.280 because I was all paranoid about all this stuff when 0:20:58.280 --> 0:20:59.919 I went to Europe. It's a smart thing to do. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.640 And little did I realized that me and my buddy were, 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.080 you know, fairly tough looking dudes walking around and probably 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:10.359 not uh easy marks or at least there were lots 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.520 more around us that were way easier than us and 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:15.520 my my friend Chappy two I remember at the time. 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.080 So I almost want someone to try and pickpocket me. 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.000 He would be like a Hannibal Lecter. Yeah, in Hannibal, 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:24.160 he would like chase them down and beat them down 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:26.719 into the ground and that would that would be all 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:29.159 over for that pickpocket. Hannibal Lector didn't do that, but 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:33.359 he did stab at Gypsy to death for pickt Uh 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:39.680 Fannie packs don't do it because yeah, those are easily unzipped, 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.399 especially if they're around turned around to the back um, 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:45.639 which you would do to look cool. Oh yeah, on 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:51.040 the rear um. I locked my zippers together like in 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.600 my backpack with a little uh a little tiny lock. Yeah, 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:56.960 but that helps, but it's uh, they can still. I've 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.600 heard about people like cutting into a backpack even man. Yeah, 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:03.960 you gotta have some quick hands to do that and 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:08.679 some cajones. Um. They recommend to carry a dummy wallet. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:12.359 I've heard this. I've never heard that does it pull 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.960 up with like cards that say like, sucker, you didn't 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:17.639 get my wallet. If you want to go to that 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:19.840 trouble you could. I think I would if you look 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:22.480 around and pay attention to like your junk mail and 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:25.080 your normal life, you're going to find things that look 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.480 like fake credit cards and fake money that you can 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:33.000 stuff your dummy wallet with. The thing is, it's like, 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:38.439 I mean, that's kind of outweighing these pickpockets, which is 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:40.919 kind of fun in and of itself. Absolutely, at the 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:42.760 same time, it seems like it's going to a lot 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:47.440 of trouble just to let them steal something like that's 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:50.080 still your wallet, even if it's a dummy wallet, like 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.440 it's an actual wallet. Yeah, that's true, it's just filled 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.399 with fake stuff. So you're saying, don't let it happen 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.879 at all, dummy wallet or smart wallet. Yeah, but I 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.840