In this post, I will discuss specific threats — pickpockets & scammers — in detail.

'Transportation’ related risks/crimes & criminal (in particular, taxi drivers) are specifically addressed in the following 2 posts ...  FOUND in the  TOC (Table of Contents) at upper left in this post. 

       a. Transportation risks: 6) Trans: airport > Hostel

       b. Transportation risks: 7) Trans: in-town & country

Once you recognize a scam & how it works you may well avoid & frustrate it.

I. Pickpockets:

A. Define Pickpocketing?

Pickpocketing is the larceny or theft —grand or petty — of money or other personal property from a victim's pocket/ person. daypack, fanny pack —- without them noticing. Pickpocketing can be an art form born of constant street training, practice & experience. 

B. Pickpocket’s skills?

Author Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” fictional character, Fagin, used a ‘game’ to teach 'pickpocketing' to his young street boys, like a legendary pickpocket, Artful Dodger,….

Fagin's Pickpocket Training 

“When the breakfast was cleared away, the merry old gentleman and the two boys played at a very curious and uncommon game…The merry old gentleman, placing a snuff-box in one pocket of his trousers, a note-case in the other, and a watch in his waistcoat pocket, with a guard chain round his neck, and sticking a mock diamond pin his shirt, buttoned his coat right round him, and putting his spectacle-case and handkerchief in his pockets, trotted up and down the room with a stick…

All this time the two boys followed him closely about; getting out of his sight so nimbly, every time he turned round…If the old gentleman felt a hand in any one of his pockets he cried out where it was; and then the game began all over again.”

Arriving much earlier than other tourists at Kruja’s Castle, I had been roaming thru the main castle grounds & had just entered the novel, ancient, still occupied original castle’s residential area when I was casually app

You may practice tennis, pottery throwing or computer games, but these pickpockets practice just as hard to steal your stuff.   These people are good.

A Pickpockets’s hand is so deftly skilled that you won't know your money is gone until you reach for it. Even then, the theft may have been so well done, you’ll think you left your money in your hostel. 

3. Hidden Money Locations

                tailor my ideas to your wardrobe.

a. Hat:    

     Tilley hats" (https://tilley.com/collections/best-brimmed-hats

I traveled N America & world for more than 25 years with a Tilley hat, replaced twice under their lifetime warranty when I wore them out. 

The Tilley hat has a secret compartment on the inside top where I would store $20-$30 USD or equivalent local currency

.

• (SEE where the $20 USD is sticking out) →→→→↘︎

I also installed a wrap-around cape that could be snapped closed in front of my face against mosquitoes, wind & rain.

'Snap' is just below center top of cape front in left PIK

b. Jackets & Vests:

1) All Jackets:

In each JKT install a 'money pocket' under inside left arm pit, so you can easily reach money with your right hand, unless you are left-handed.

2) Heavy Jacket's additional modifications & safety features:

     1) Large rain pants pocket. Designed to securely carry my rolled-up rain pants, pair of gloves & other small stuff INSIDE jacket.

Note: Long black 'blob' at left top is the rolled up rain pants, while small black blob' on top right are gloves. All fits neatly in the long red pocket with black velcro ties downs.

Also, I positioned this red pocket so that it fit nicely in the small of my back. 

Even when my jacket is rolled up & tied around my waist, full rain pocket just hangs down bouncing on my butt a bit with each step, BUT ultimately reducing any need for a daypack

See pplk: Wardrobe post {Resources>. Equip] 

     2) Security snap-lock buckles:

  'Clothing Arts' installed tiny security snap-lock buckles in addition to pocket zippers making it even more difficult for pickpockets to get inside those 'protected' pockets. 

(1 PIKs: tiny security snap lock buckles in addition to pocket zippers

CELL Phone Caution: many modern jackets have an exterior left breast pocket apparently designed for a cell phone. Laughably accessible to even an unskilled pickpocket, particularly when they see you use your cell & put it back in that same pocket.

c. Dress Shirt:  

While my rolled-up dress shirt contains no hidden pockets, when wrapped around my waist, it hangs down perhaps 4 to 8 inches providing a curtain that hides my pant’s pockets.

Often worn as a chilly early morning jacket, it also 'somewhat' hides my video camera. (PIKs- full garb w/ dress shirt & video camera). 

d. T-shirts

I carry 2-3 lightweight, synthetic, quick-drying T-shirts with a  chest pocket (mine or mfgr's) large enough for folded money bills.

I can't speak to a woman's analogous garment except to suggest:  keep it simple, easily washed & dried without ironing i.e minimal maintenance.

Seems contradictory, but I carry my 'decoy' money here for 1) my convenience & 2) as a decoy.

e. Short/Pant/Dress/Skirt:

Must carry $ hidden from all but your lover.😃 

    Even if they were to ‘pat me down’ unlikely to invade my crotch.

1) Cash Pocket:

My cargo shorts & pants 'cash' and 'cell phone's hidden 'pockets are inside pants in crotch where ONLY I could reach them by loosening my belt and reaching down inside my shorts/pants.

Note: For illustration, these shorts are turned inside out which means the pockets are flipped when the shorts are normal. I.e. cell phone pocket is on the right money pocket on the left.

Note: Use same colored thread as shorts/pants/skirt so pocket outline is not easily visible

Hidden 'money pocket' is described: 1) directly above under:                                   "b. Jackets/Vest/Dres/Skirt",

&

2) more with "How to ..." info.  [pplk: sub-post: Wardrobe modifications]

2) Cell Phone Pocket:

The larger "cell phone pocket with case' is installed on left side when shorts worn ('cash pocket of right side).

Note: Cell phone has a lanyard on it which attachs to a small loop [lk] on the top inside of my short's waistband so won't be stolen or lost even inadvertaintly (during a trip & fall.)

Hopefully, a pickpocket could not get these monies and cell phone .... without …. 1^st marrying me.   

See [pplk: sub-post: Wardrobe modifications]. 

f. Travel Belt with hidden zippered pocket:

Such belts have a long, thin zippered compartment on backside which, of course, is worn hidden facing your body.

In it, I carried ---

a) 2 US $100s & 2 large local bills folded lengthwise to fit.

b) 2 US $100s & 2 large local bills folded lengthwise to fit.

c) a tiny laminated summary of credit/debit card numbers & pins that I could never remember. For "How to ..." SEE:  [pplk: post: Wardrobe: travel belt]

g. Security Travel Pouch w/ Passport, cash & CC/DC: 

I have carried Rick Steve’s very early Essential Silk Moneybelt for 20+ years --- with my modifications.

This money belt has a stretchy waist strap with a plastic locking buckle that allows pouch's easy on & off ... if ....you don't want to step thru the waist strap or bring it down over your head which I normally do.

The buckle also allows waist strap to be tightened as it stretches over time.

BUT, I wanted greater security than just buckle. I feared buckle might inadvertently unlock or, more likely, I might not close it properly.

SOLUTION:  So, I bridged the plastic buckle by installing top of 1/2 of a stainless snap fitting to 'waist strap free end" & the bottom part of snap fitting to 'pouch strap end' which is attached directly to pouch. This modification provided a redundant strap lock.

I always use this security travel pouch when traveling long distances by air, bus, or rail usually between countries and cities.    I do NOT wear it on a daily basis cuz a passport is safer in my hostel, IMO.

Instead, I always carry on my person a paper copy & a cell copy of my passport.

Other travel-related pouches:

There are several styles & designs of such pouches: some specifically for travel, others, apparently, for fashion. Travelers, please avoid the fashion pouches.

They are, IMO, a pickpocket & 'snatch & grabber's ideal target.

Travel-specific pouches promote the security of your valuable passport, money, etc.  However, IMO, some travel-styled pouches range from practical & max safety TO potentially dangerous.

For my deeper critique & defense of my above allegations,  please  SEE:  [pplk: post: Wardrobe: travel pouch]

1) [ytlk: security pouch / belt- to come] 

h. Socks:    

As US Air Force Academy Cadets, our khaki pant's pockets were heavily starched & pressed tightly closed, AND ... kept that way to preserve the trim military look.  So, we carried our small ‘necessaries’ (pens, pencils  & money) in our socks.

Traveling, I often split my ‘backup” monies into 2 folded sheaves &

slid them down inside each upper sock, facing the opposite leg so the bulge, if any, would not be easily visible, particularly when wearing shorts.  Large bills on the left side, small bills on the right.

This micro strategy did not telegraph to onlookers who saw me reach for my smaller bills in my right sock that there was an even greater amount on the left side. (I hoped).

       Anecdote: Hanoi open market lunch counter.

After lunch at one of Asia's large enclosed market's lunch counters, I reached down my leg into my sock and pulled out my "decoy cash'.

Looking up I caught the nearby vendor watching me. He started chuckling ... silently applauding my hiding place. We both had a good laugh & a 'human moment.

i. Shoes:    

My hiking shoes were well-broken-in, sturdy & comfortable for both walking the streets of a major city or hiking a mountain or jungle trail. 

So disgusting were my hiking boots that TSA routinely ignored "my Ancient One's" exemption and inspected my boots anyway.😀

   Anecdote: India's Intentionally ugly shoes.

At Asian temples & hostels you must leave your shoes/sandals outside/ or in the entry, respectively. Leaving my $150+ hiking boots unattended surrounded by dozens of $1 sandals, was an obvious risk.  

So, I sought to discourage theft by totally marking them up with felt tip pens to make them too ugly to steal. 😀

Removable Support Arch Insert:

Many hiking boots & shoes come with removable supportive arch inserts UNDER WHICH I hide

• in one shoe, several USD $100 emergency bills, tightly wrapped in plastic so sweat, damp, stream crossings, etc will not destroy them. Ironically, I often 'discover' those little paks when buying shoes for the next trip. 😉
• In the other shoe, is a tiny abbreviated summary of my credit/debit card numbers & pins which I could never remember.

PIKs: 1) 2 PIKs of L & R shoe w/ removable insert showing a) $ wrapped in cellophane, b) small CC/DDC. Greater explanation & closer more detailed PIKs reserved for Hidden sub-post.

j. Pickpocket-proof clothing:

 I bought several garments from Clothing Arts when they 1^st began; high-quality anti-theft pants/shorts worth investigating. https://www.clothingarts.com (clothingarts.com) 

There are other companies online.

DISCLAIMER: Again, I have no intent to make money on this blog at this time from any source including Clothing Arts. My blog is solely non-profit educational. If somehow, it makes a profit, I will donate it to charity. 😇

III. Retailers:  

A. GENERAL: shops & stalls

The honesty of retailers toward their customers worldwide at all levels is, IMO, directly related to the trust of their customers. 

Small rural retailers & their customers know each of well; may well have grown up together. While limited retail options the rural customer has learned to trust their retailer’s consistent quality & price, or they will seek alternatives.

The huge open market ‘stall’ retailers of the world also must curry the trust of its frequent customers because of numerous competitive nearby stalls selling the same items.

Both retailer & customer must be or become skilled at researching & comparing the quality, availability & price of each specific product (tomatoes, shrimp, etc.) not only over time but day to day.

Both retailer & customer have skilled, well-practiced age old bargaining skills to employ when required. Sophisticated consumerism at its best.

Ironically, the large US supermarket chain stores of the US have a similar, but more antiseptic, relationship with customers who can tailor their shopping to the best opportunities each store may offer. EX: I continuously shop all 3 supermarkets in Jackson Hole, WY for different items at predictably different prices & quality.

B. Tourist Customer:

Unfortunately, this retailer/customer trust relationship MAY break down when a foreign tourist is added to the mix. The ‘obvious tourist’ heralds a ‘once in a lifetime visit’ usually driven by curiosity rather than a serious need or desire to buy. 

Depending on the retailer’s product line the retailer may view the ‘obvious tourist’ at BEST, as a “wonderful opportunity’ or ‘mana from heaven.’ At worst, the tourist may be seen as an annoyance interfering with or distracting regular, legitimate customers ….. UNLESS the tourist shows legit interest in buying.

While most retailers operate honestly, for some it is difficult, not to take advantage of naïve, inexperienced, unskilled overly excited relatively wealthy tourists. Tour bus-frequented tourist shops or markets almost by definition are predictably far more expensive than more local-based retailers. 

These retailers know you are more or less a captive audience, traveling fast, and having little opportunity on your own to explore similar shop’s availability, quality & price.

Often such shops /markets exist primarily to satisfy the tourist’s compulsion to take souvenirs back home to loved ones or brag about a foreign purchase (EX: Thailand hand-tailored silk suit.).

There may be a higher price for tourists, quality may be dubious at best, and money exchange cheating. 

A tourist has NO knowledge of the reasonable local ‘price, or quality’ and lacks any bargaining skills. Knowing this, the retailer ‘sells’ the price he thinks “ the market will bear” mindset ... taking advantage of tourists’ ignorance &  lack of skills.

      Anecdote: returned $ change

Chilean dessert small road-stop clerk returning my overpay. Japan, Tokyo waitress running down street.

CAUTION: don't 'pretend' to be a legitimate customer just for fun. It is, IMO, unethical ‘toying’ with a person's livelihood and his family's well-being.

OTOH, the 'obvious tourist' faces several' risks: 1) price gouging,

2) ‘thumb on the scales”, 

3) poor or counterfeit quality, ‘knock off’ goods, 4) incorrect transaction change, and others.

If a tourist shows legit interest in buying — game on.  Here in lies the danger and the opportunity for the tour

Small shops (rural, vs tourist) vs open market stalls.

C. My Shopping Practices: 

I have a fascination with huge open markets, particularly of Asia  …searching them out. I love to wander thru these markets, particularly in Asia: a cacophony of vendor’s shouts, a mix of smells, animal noises & seller’s loud hawking.

While most tour groups are kept quickly moving past the open market’s perimeter to stay on its schedule, I, often visit in the early morning.

I purposely probe deep into the market’s deepest guts --- literally -- thru the meat and fish department’s melange of butchered flesh & a stench of innumerable dried fish. 

I’m dazzled by the variety of foods offered, bewildered by an item’s massive duplication among vendors at seemingly inexpensive prices. A rousing assault on all the senses, in contrast to, for example, shopping in a sedate, plastic-wrap sculpted American supermarket.

Most large foreign open markets are a large mix of everything locals might need from groceries to housewares offered at seemingly endless vendor stalls often selling the same items. 

[ytlk: CHI: Xi'an Muslim MKT: Proj 021 OR Guilin: Proj 085 OR Lijiang Proj 121 ]

A seller’s market stall may have been in their family selling to the same local families for generations. Their consistent quality, fair pricing, & honest dealings have created a trusted reputation. 

In my experience, most storekeepers & market stall sellers that I have encountered seemed honest and very hard-working.    

Their livelihood is based on their quality & prices and the mutual trust they create. However, these markets also serve tourists ranging from solo travelers like myself to large tour groups.

D. Bargaining Game:

           an age-old tradition, both fun & practical

In the United States, I get annoyed when a shopkeeper does not put a price on an item I'm 
interested in.

Most Americans expect items to be priced so we can quickly decide if it is worth buying.

We presume Best Buy’s television's price is firm. If their price is too high, we skip it and buy it later from a different seller.

Interestingly, most foreign large market stalls & grocery stores have started to adopt this ‘marked pricing’ model,particularly for common fungible items like tomatoes, bread, etc because both retailers & consumers don’t have time to waste over ordinary purchases. Rapid turnover trumps wasted time.

However, in many other cultures, their shops & markets still practice bargaining —  buyer & seller negotiation — particularly when items are scarce, unique (art), or inherently expensive (jewelry.) 

The human economy for eons established all prices thru barter’s bargaining negotiation based on an array of subtle supply & demand factors between willing buyers & sellers. 

Bargaining sets a sales price between seller & buyer at a  moment in time. Both sides can seek out an agreed price based on market factors: Holiday chicken demand? Chicken price last week vs today? The current supply of chickens? Too few! — high price, too many! — low price. 

Believe it or not, this simple, yet subtle ‘bargaining ‘ concept underlies all businesses including the European stock market & local China’s Lijiashan village grocery prices. It can be extremely subtle & complex. 

Local shoppers of these traditional markets have the background knowledge, experience & traditional bargaining skills to easily & competently match those of the sellers. 

Unfortunately, the foreign tourist does not have the local’s bargaining knowledge, experience & skills, yet must gain them quickly or be exploited.

Devoid of these skills & knowledge most ‘obvious tourists’ quiver in anticipation of their purchase … flushed with bargaining confusion like a rabbit trapped by a fox.

In shops & markets frequented by souvenir-seeking tourists often led there by their guides, you are definitely prey to price gouging & all other tricks seller’s can employ including lurking pickpockets. 

But, in all fairness, remember, ‘bargaining’ is their tradition. It is your naïve ignorance that places you at risk. Let’s look closer.

I hope to teach you basic bargaining attitude, strategies & tactics.

E. Bargaining Rules, Tactics & Strategies:

Bargaining can be fun, but I have a few simple rules and tactics I follow, and hope you will.

1. Ethical Rule:

                   Never bargain for fun, only if you .. actually, …  seriously … are considering a purchase. If you can’t reach a bargained price agreement, then you are, of course,  free to walk away.

If you are in the research stage of bargaining, you have no obligation to buy until you can compare other retailers’ options.

BUT don’t mock a vendor’s livelihood or waste her time without ethical purpose.          They have a family to feed.

2. Vendor Accepts: 

If a merchant accepts your offered price, the tourist MUST buy or be seen as “dishonorable & of bad faith”, if they do NOT buy.

Even the American Uniform Commercial Code enforces this ethic. Only “The Ugly” American would defile this basic business ethic. 

3. Vendor's Ethics:

IMO, if you don’t counter-offer and just buy at the vendor’s price that seller is not unethical, rather, ....   you are naïve, lack bargaining skills or are not concerned about price.

If naïve & lacking, it is you who have violated the bargaining tradition and paid the high price … literally.

Afterward, don’t denigrate a retailer’s pricing, etc because of your ignorance. That is not fair.

A solo traveler’s bargaining adventure of acquiring knowledge & skills can be fun and satisfying, giving you a sense of being part of the culture.

Synopsis of Usual Bargaining Process:

    1) You arrive at seller's stall & start looking,

    2) a skilled seller recognizes you as a tourist, ’sizes-up’ your desire level, bargaining sophistication &, believe it or not, attitude,

    3) You enquire about the price,

    4) the seller offers an outrageously high price,

    5) you counter and 6) offered & counter-offer until you 1) politely walk away, 2) seller gets tired of unproductive gain, or 3) a deal is reached.      That's it.

F. My Strategy & tactics: 

1. Research: 

      a) If merely curious, I fondle the item with zero facial expression and ask the price. Putting it respectfully back in place I walk off respectfully dismissing, but mentally noting, retailer’s offers of a better price.

If interested in an item I do the same as above inquiring about the price, BUT THEN I probe the seller’s willingness to lower price with a little back & forth. 

Then, I smile, nod my ‘Thanks’ and respectfully, walk away, but may hesitantly be drawn back to bargain further if seller is insistent.

Finally, if still not ‘convinced’ I respectfully walk off … apparently for good. 

NOTE: I use the word “respectfully” often because legitimate authentic ethical bargaining is important and serious business; a family's livelihood and well-being lie in the balance. 

Never use disrespectful theatrics to attempt to intimidate a retailer or improve your position. Always be respectful regardless of how you choose to ‘act out this play.’

      b) Then, I hit a couple of other shops or stalls for the same item and work thru the same routine looking for the quality/quantity/price differences.  

      c) Finally, I revisit the shop that had the best price and bargain some more until I buy. We both know I am probably going to buy it.

2. PRICING: 

In sum, I want the best price, but I also know that a retailer has a price she CANNOT go below; a price that includes the minimal profit she can accept or her investment in labor, time & materials will have been wasted. 

Depending on the bargaining skills of both tourist & seller, the bargained price should ultimately be a win-win for both.

CAUTION: You are NOT a hero if you beat up a person in a weaker position.