Scams/Criminal Activity on Trains

I'm sorry this happened to you. All we can all do, is be as careful as possible and carry on.

I had similar boarding a train in Milan. Two women started to argue with me about where I should put my carry on suitcase. Then one woman was going to "assist" me. Meanwhile the other one had a long scarf around her neck and over my purse. Her hand was underneath and she had unzipped my purse. My lunch was on top, so no biggie, but in a loud voice I said, "get your hand out of my purse or I will break it". They ran off. On that trip, I started to safety pin the zipper closed on my bag.

Anytime there is a disruption, the first thing you should do is watch your belongings.

However, as much as possible, do not let this affect your travels and enjoyment.

Some perspective--For a while, I had one son living in urban Chicago and another in St. Louis. I feel safer most anywhere in Europe than I do in many places in the U.S. The rate of violent crime in Europe is much lower than in the U.S.

My husband had a bag stolen from above our seat during boarding. Thankfully no passport or money was lost, but his camera with special photos was taken.

I use cable key holders on my Carry-On and Personal Item zippers. Since they screw together, it takes a little work for sticky fingers to reach inside. My purse has clips on all zippers and never leaves my body. While not 100% theft proof (nothing is). It slows the thief down.

Thanks for the warning. I’ll be traveling in Italy soon.

thanks for that tip, Horsewoofie -- I think those cable rings are even better than the s-biners that we often recommend here on the forum:

https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-S-Biner-MicroLock-Aluminum/dp/B0CKFX6PQV/ref=sr_1_15?crid=139JGZ2WU9YA3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SLmANSD7KbtUDXayzcuc2DHzmkfNeky9Mh0uB-lV03XoqiYjyZ140bx2EMNm91Cl-3Dc3WjxJv61jiiE2S_Rb8N2-gdLUQCeeSCOcpOc6bqC1sP0gLQyddb_Gu479KmZ368s8RDRV9jOE1eD7pEb38uFlFUllvwM-JuTVVeomv011TfgXx8ioc5-zi0mrR56BCWgadWQwyMyehHSbNcCfBlfdN-t-F09yGrCM5NxXX8mmvq0XMzspg_OyFIxk8CU-gIMlNOIpfs52tlteBWO2xPBdfZM0VyUCsyH4V3CP9Q.OAfV6i_ok3uMUuL29NK3nIN4mvj9GPu8O-Qo3TJxuwo&dib_tag=se&keywords=s-biner&qid=1720646895&sprefix=s-biner%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-15

Posted by avirosemail

thanks for that tip, Horsewoofie -- I think
those cable rings are even better than the s-biners that we often
recommend here on the forum:

I agree. You could probably loop those cable rings around a few times to make it even more frustrating for sticky fingers.

For the OP, I always wonder about overhead luggage on a plane. Seems there is always someone rummaging around in the overhead that is not in their row during the flight. It is usually a parent seated in the bulkhead with young children looking for something to calm/entertain the kiddos. I think it is usually perfectly innocent, but I always wonder when I see it.

All the more reason to keep valuables attached to you at all times.

I have some cable rings that I use for things like attaching luggage tags, but I think they are too hard to open every time I need to get into my bag, and they are really fiddly to reattach.

The s-biners require 2 hands to open, so work well as a deterrent, but are easier to open and close as needed during the day.

When I travel on any public transportation, even here in Brooklyn, I physically hold my hand on the zipper part of my bag.
It’s the distractions that worry me cause our first instinct is to always help. Have to get our of that mindset.

You have to be especially careful at stations where the high speed trains stop for longer like Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples. Since those are terminus stations and the train reverses the direction of travel, the stop is 10 minutes, vs less than 5 in Bologna or Rome Tiburtina. The people who engage in these tricks are real pros at these scams, often at the expense of tourists. They get on and off during that short stop (they are not traveling anywhere).

It is true that the rate of crime is lower in Italy, but this peculiar type of crime is not common in the US since few people use trains or buses with the same frequency, except for New York, where these crimes are also more common. Unfortunately petty property crime is not enforced much in Italy, therefore there is no deterrent for these criminals. The worst that can happen to them is being booked at the police station and then they are released the same day. They rarely spend a day in jail for this type of stuff.

I feel safer most anywhere in Europe than I do in many places in the U.S. The rate of violent crime in Europe is much lower than in the U.S.

But the rate of petty crime is so, so much higher. We also experienced the hand-in-purse phenomenon on an Italian train.

And, the violent crime in the US is typically among violent criminals, and in areas crime occurs. A traveler to the US, sticking to tourist places, doing tourist things, is really in no more danger than comparable activities in any city in Europe. Do agree though that petty crime and pickpocketing certainly seem to be higher in tourist areas of Europe. Just anecdotally, I can't think of a single person I know that talks of being picked in the US, but a half dozen personal and business associates that suffered it in Europe. Not robust data of course, but still relevant.

Roberto we were surprised to see fencing blocking the track boarding area of trains in Rome and 3 or so armed police checking peoples tickets before they were allowed to walk to the waiting train. This would probably help in the other stations you mention with an in-out arrangement for trains.

Florence has gates and ticket checks before you are allowed onto the platforms, so good to hear that Rome does too.
I’m thinking if thieves are getting into Business Class they are spending money to make money by thieving, or it has to be inside jobs with help from railway staff, which makes me very sad should that be the case.
I’ve been taking trains in Italy for 20+ years, but will be extra vigilant this next trip where we have 10+ trips to take by train.
The only time I’ve knowingly witnessed theft was on the Circumvesuviana in 2013 when two young guys didn’t have a camera , then did have one, (they were walking up and down), then got off.

Tourists everywhere are always going to be a target, they are generally tired and confused and lost and are carrying valuables. Frankly it's not hard to see why they are victims so often.

Just for comparison I'd like to hear from tourists in the US to find out if we have the same level and type of crime here against them.

I was watching a train vlog the other day where the guy was taking an overnight from Milan to the Dolomites, he noted that there are e-gates that are supposed to only allow ticket holders to get to the tracks but they will just open as you approach them.

The train stations in Rome and Florence require a scanned ticket to get to train platforms (although it was rather lax as the scanner in Rome wasn’t working, so they were letting anyone through who flashed something that a resembled at ticket). Milan & Venice had no such “security” - anyone - ticketed or not - can get on train platform and onto trains. Tickets aren’t checked until about 10/15 minutes into trip.

Some years ago there was a woman who would board BART on one of the Market St stops in a manual wheelchair (or should it be an acoustic wheelchair?) wearing an old dress and milk-bottle glasses and she would loudly roll through the car/riage asking for change to help with her medical costs, and some people would give her money.

When the train got to west Oakland station she would change voices and laugh at the people on the car as she scooched out on to the platform. She would do this over and over. I got in the habit of loudly saying to her before she could start her patter "I don't think this is your train." She would frown and settle down for that circuit.

This kind of petty antics bothers me more than simple panhandling or the people who will do a quick performance of some kind, like a breakdance or a song, and then pass a hat for tips.

What I'm saying is that even though it seems like there is more petty thievery in European mass transit than in the USA (where is Emma when we need her to wag her finger at generalisations?) it may just be because people find it easier and safer and just as profitable to just make up a story and panhandle.

My sister when she was new to Chicago got pickpocketed while waiting for the El. She was from a small town and not very street wise.

Pickpocketers are opportunists usually. The tourist, the new in town, are easy targets. I must say though that some of the schemes described above are very sophisticated.

We saw an unfortunate young woman lose her bag on the high speed train between Rome and Naples. We think she had been on the train since before Rome and that it was taken during the stop, just as Roberto mentioned. Sadly, she had many valuables in it, including I believe her phone and camera. She did not realize for some time.
It was the start of our trip and an excellent reminder to use our money belts and hold on to things that we could not easily replace.

The only crime I ever saw the result of was somebody upset because her camera (that dates it) had gone from her bag over her seat. As we approached Brussels from Haarlem via den Haag about 15 years ago... we were seated about 6 or 7 rows away and had seen nothing.

My daughter was pickpocketed in Barcelona. Rick Steves was pickpocketed in Paris. There are many places in Europe with pickpockets besides Italy.

I was pickpocketd in Bulgaria and barely escaped unscathed from a trio of thieves on a French Riviera train.

My cousin's husband was pickpocketed in Budapest on a tram.

My friend had her bag stolen off the train between Paris and Frankfurt (I forget if it was on the way there or the way back).

Another friend had her collarbone broken when thieves stole her purse off of her in Barcelona.

In February, a computer engineer for the city of Paris had his briefcase (with computer and 2 USB sticks) stolen from the overhead rack as he waited on an RER D train at Gare du Nord for departure. (We all heard about it because when he filed his police report, he noted that he had sensitive information about the Olympics on the computer. Authorities later said there wasn't anything sensitive on his computer. Who knows what the truth is.) Basically he was seated on the train, and then went to change to another one. When he stood up to get his briefcase to change to the other train, he saw that his briefcase was gone.

Police arrested the suspect two days later based on a description of what he was wearing, videosurveillance, and phone tracking (he was known to police for baggage thefts at Gare du Nord), and he was convicted later in the week for theft in a public transport vehicle, for holding goods from a theft and for refusing to give judicial authorities his phone code. He was sentenced to seven months in prison.