Thursday, November 01, 2007
Physical security: pickpockets
One guest at the security conference I just attended was Bob Arno, whom you may have seen on TV. If you haven't, you could call him a white hat pickpocket. He lifts things from people as a comedy act, studies real pickpocket techniques, and consults to travelers and law enforcement.
He invited some people up to the front of the theater and made their belongings disappear. One victim left without his necktie. Another had his watch removed and he didn't notice. Bob Arno gave it back, and as the victim was leaving, Bob Arno gave it back again, having lifted it a second time.
He also worked the seated audience, acting friendly and seeing what he could get away with. He's a good observer, and homed in on the audience members who were paying more attention to their own thoughts than to their surroundings. Like me.
He closed in acting all hail-fellow-well-met, but also crashed through my personal boundaries and grabbed the hand that he wasn't shaking. I let myself react as I'd been taught in a self-defense class. I shouted for him to leave me alone. Several audience members commented on it afterward. I said to one "I must have sounded like a bag lady", and he said "well, a little".
Bob Arno told me that I'd done everything right and said "Have you ever been to Moscow or Rome?".
He showed hidden-camera videos of pickpockets in action and talked about how he's made friends with pickpockets around the world. (He likes to let his pocket get picked, quietly follow the pickpocket, lift the pickpocket's cell phone and then approach smiling with an offer to trade the phone for his wallet). A few important things you should know:
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He invited some people up to the front of the theater and made their belongings disappear. One victim left without his necktie. Another had his watch removed and he didn't notice. Bob Arno gave it back, and as the victim was leaving, Bob Arno gave it back again, having lifted it a second time.
He also worked the seated audience, acting friendly and seeing what he could get away with. He's a good observer, and homed in on the audience members who were paying more attention to their own thoughts than to their surroundings. Like me.
He closed in acting all hail-fellow-well-met, but also crashed through my personal boundaries and grabbed the hand that he wasn't shaking. I let myself react as I'd been taught in a self-defense class. I shouted for him to leave me alone. Several audience members commented on it afterward. I said to one "I must have sounded like a bag lady", and he said "well, a little".
Bob Arno told me that I'd done everything right and said "Have you ever been to Moscow or Rome?".
He showed hidden-camera videos of pickpockets in action and talked about how he's made friends with pickpockets around the world. (He likes to let his pocket get picked, quietly follow the pickpocket, lift the pickpocket's cell phone and then approach smiling with an offer to trade the phone for his wallet). A few important things you should know:
- Never flash the contents of your wallet
- Don't dress like an American if you're in Naples
- Outside the US, pickpocketing is so organized that five pickpockets may converge on one victim
- Organized crime is involved and can match stolen ID documents with people who resemble the photos
- He's been offered $1000/day to join a pickpocket gang, which tells you how much money's involved
- The big money is in stealing credit cards, so just think how much your credit card number would be worth to an online thief.
# posted by Frederick @ 9:33 PM Email to a friend:
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