One of the things that many travelers worry about is how to avoid pickpockets. It's a valid concern and we recently heard from a reader who was the victim of one.
She had her money and credit cards stolen while traveling. It was not a happy scenario but she managed to get things straightened away and move on with her trip.
With the rise of phone wallets, there's a new pickpocket risk that can come in a slightly different form.
None of us need these kinds of problems. Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your valuables from pickpockets.
Your Phone Is the Latest Target of Pickpockets for Many Reasons
Losing your phone can be as bad, or possibly worse, than losing your wallet.
There is a rise in cell phone theft around the world. They are stolen to “be sold, stripped for parts, or used in identity theft to access bank accounts and more.” Many small criminals are finding it more lucrative than selling drugs. There were about 80,000 cell phones stolen in London in 2025. This isn't just street crime. It's an international industry.
A few tips:
- Ultimately, be careful with your phone. Holding it in your hand without a tether makes it easy for a thief to grab and be gone. Here's a simple wrist tether but there are many, many options on the market.
- Put a password on your phone. This is the simplest way to protect your information yet some people still use “1234” or something similar.
- Change your control center access in settings. Find My Phone can be easily turned off by thieves by putting it in airplane mode. Unless you set one, this doesn't need a password and means that you won't be able to use the app to find your phone. You can add a password in your settings.
- Set a PIN for your SIM. Caution with this. 45 minutes after setting this I'm still on chat support trying to be able to make a call. The idea here is that by putting a PIN on your SIM, you can stop people from stealing your phone and racking up a massive phone bill. My choice, given my experience, is to take the chance.
How to Avoid Pickpockets and Safeguard Your Cards and Cash
- Take precautions before you leave. Just in case, despite all the tips below, you still fall prey to a pickpocket, make sure that you have:
- copies of your travel itinerary, passport, visa, vaccination documents, credit cards, debit cards, and bank information on you, with a friend at home, and in the cloud
- insurance against theft should it be your phone or other item that goes missing. Read Travel Insurance for Solo Travelers: How to Make Sure You’re Protected.
- photos of your expensive gear in case you need to make a claim
- Stash your cash in multiple places. Make sure that you carry your money in multiple safe places on your person. One might be in a belt that holds money.
- Beware of crowded places. Markets, train stations, large public events–these are the types of places that pickpockets love. If you're carrying a purse, it should have a flap and a zipper. Or consider something like the Travelon Cross-body Messenger Bag with locking zippers (Tracey swears by this one). If you carry a daypack, wear it on your front rather than your back in these places. If you insist on carrying a wallet in your pocket, it should be a front pocket, not in the back.
- Be careful around warning signs about pickpockets. If you see a sign in a public place warning you about pickpockets, do not touch your pocket to check on your valuables. Pickpockets hang out in such places waiting for innocent people to point out where their wallet is. Don't help them out. You may not be able to avoid pickpockets but you can certainly make it harder for them to target you.
- Keep your priority items to a minimum. I check for my most important items every time I stand up to move on. These are my wallet, phone, and passport. That's it. If I forget something else, it's not that important.
- Always look back. Whenever you're leaving a restaurant, hopping off a bus, or getting up from a park bench, always look back at where you were seated before moving on. This can save you a lot of worry and backtracking looking for forgotten items.
- Anchor your purse or pack. Many tourists have lost a pack or purse off the back of a restaurant chair. Loop a strap through the leg of the chair, keep it on your lap or squeezed between you and a companion, whatever will keep it safe. Consider the Loctote antitheft sack. It is a safe and it's a backpack. Take it with you or leave it in your room locked to an immovable object with your valuables inside and everything will be safe.
- Use an RFID blocking wallet. I hardly use cash now when I travel. I put as much as I can on my credit card. Ah, but what about identity theft? That's where an RFID blocking wallet can (maybe) be useful. RFID skimming is where, with the right technology, a person near you can gather data from your credit cards without your knowledge. There's a bit of a debate about them but there's no harm erring on the side of safety. Such wallets are available in hard-shell card holders and leather wallets.
- Wear pickpocket-proof clothing. Pants with zippered pockets inside of pockets, bras with stash pockets for credit cards, and jackets with inside pockets are all great places to keep cash. Here's a link to Amazon's many pickpocket proof items.
- Use a money belt or neck stash. I use these sometimes but certainly not always. However, it does keep your valuables out of sight and hard to get at. Here are a money belt and a neck stash to consider.
- Keep spare cash where no one would expect to find it. This tip to avoid pickpockets comes from Journeywoman. Roll a few bills and put them in an almost empty pill jar so that the bottle still makes a noise when shaken. If anyone ever rifles through your things they won't think that you have money there.
For plenty more solo travel safety tips, check out Solo Travel Safety: 50+ Proven Tips to Keep You Safe and 10 Solo Travel Safety Apps: Technology for Peace of Mind.
