Pick Pockets and other Denizens

Today I stumbled onto the following travel tip on the internet. It's easy to say, 'that won't happen to me,' but when we were in Rome in 2006 we encountered a couple of situations where I narrowly missed loosing my wallet. It's best to never carry more money than you need for the day, and always be aware of your surrounds when sightseeing. As the travel tip says, the 'Artful Dodgers' are alive and well in London and other poplulated areas.

Travel tip:
If you’re coming to London this summer you should take particular care with wallets and personal belongings, especially in the West End and on the Underground because the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union has brought an influx of pickpockets to London. People from those countries and Albanians are also behind a lot of the crime involving cashpoints at banks and the cloning of bankcards.
Watch out for the gypsy women beggars in central London who carry around kids that they’ve drugged to keep asleep. They carry bits of paper they push into your face asking for money and there are usually a couple of male members of their group close by, either to pick your pocket or to jump in if you forcefully tell the woman to get lost.
London is a pickpockets playground in summer, tons of people that get crammed together on the transport system and around some of the major tourist sites. Its best just to take the essentials with you when you go out for the day and spread your money and valuables around your pockets. One things for sure there’s going to be no shortage of modern day Artful Dodgers arriving from eastern Europe this year.