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Paris >
Tourist Mistakes > #10
Top 11 Tourist Mistakes in Paris
(and how to
avoid them)
Continued from previous page
ABOVE: When you're posing
for snapshots, watch out for purse-snatchers who reach in from outside
the frame.
Mistake #10: Being easy prey for pickpockets and
purse-snatchers
 Your
odds of being robbed or mugged in Paris are fairly low. In the Métro,
one estimate puts the assault rate at 1 in 365,000 passengers, or about 6,000
muggings compared to more than two billion underground rides each year.
What's more, violent crime is most likely to occur in places that tourists
seldom frequent, such as public housing projects on the outskirts of the city.
 Pickpocketing
and purse-snatching are a different story. Crooks with sticky fingers do a
land-office business in a city that attracts more than 30 million tourists every
year, and neither the police nor the judicial system can keep up with the
thieves.
We know several people who have been victims of
pickpockets, and we can't resist sharing an anecdote:
- While catching a train to Versaille with her husband
and brother a few years ago, Cheryl's best friend saw a pickpocket reaching
toward her brother's wallet. The woman swatted the pickpocket with her
handbag, and the thief fled. (Fortunately, he didn't grab the wallet or the
purse before making his exit.)
 Many
tourists invite theft by making their possessions easy to steal. Men carry
wallets and passports in their hip pockets, while women often wear bags
behind their shoulders and out of sight, where a pickpocket can rummage like a
bear with a
garbage can.
 Other
visitors wear expensive camera backpacks that might as well be labeled "Steal
me." Belt packs ("fanny packs" in American vernacular) are popular targets for
pickpockets. The most clueless victims of all are tourists who wear neck wallets
or pouches outside their clothing, where any snatch-and-grab thief can cut the
cord before running off with a stash of money and credit cards.
Our advice:
-
Carry one credit card, one ATM card, and a small amount of
cash in your wallet, or--if you're female--in a small purse that you carry
separately from your main shoulder bag or tote. Hide the wallet in a safe
place (such as a zippered security pocket), or wear the small purse under a jacket or sweater.
-
Carry a backup credit card, ATM card, cash, and your
passport in a neck wallet inside your clothing.
-
Keep photocopies of your credit cards, ATM cards, and
passport ID page in another safe location so you'll be able to cancel your
cards and get a new passport if the originals are stolen. (You might also
want to scan the cards and passport to a PDF file that you can keep on your
smartphone.)
Another important tip:
Be aware of your surroundings, and be especially watchful
in areas that are frequented by tourists.
A France Crime
& Safety Report from the Overseas Security Advisory Council claims that
pickpockets are especially active in:
-
The RER railroad line from Charles de Gaulle Airport;
-
The Métro, while tourists are entering
trains (we've heard that Line 1 is especially popular with both tourists and
pickpockets);
-
Major department stores where
visitors often leave purses, wallets, or credit cards on cashier counters during
transactions;
-
Eiffel Tower elevators and museum escalators;
-
The area around Sacré-Coeur (which is
also frequented by harmless but annoying "string
men" shakedown artists).
Bottom line: By using common sense, you'll
encourage pickpockets and purse-snatchers to look for tourists who are more
careless than you are.
Next page:
Mistake #11: Saying "Adieu"
instead of "Au revoir"
About the author:
 Durant Imboden
is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European
cities and transportation.
After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and
Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (including Paris for Visitors) in
2001. The
site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The
Washington Post.
For more information, see
About
our site,
press clippings, and
reader
testimonials.
Top photo copyright © Lisa Gagne.
1st inset photo © Victor Neimanis.
2nd
inset photo inset photo © Julien Lemarchand.
3rd inset photo © Alistair
Scott.
4th inset photo © Triggerphoto.
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