What to do After You've Been Pickpocketed

If you’re reading this, you’re either one of two people:

1. You’re preparing yourself for the possibility of being pickpocketed

2. You have just been pickpocketed

I would say I’m part of the latter category. I didn’t get pickpocketed myself, but one of our group members did and it’s an all-round terrifying event.

But talking to people about it later, I’m constantly hearing the same thing:

“I was pickpocketed, too”

It’s honestly really common to get pickpocketed, but no one talks about it. Even after, I couldn’t find a lot of information on what you should do after you’ve been pickpocketed (tons of stuff for what to do to prevent, but that’s not helpful now)

So I created this video on what to do after you’ve been pickpocketed.

You don’t have time to watch the video? Well, here’s a short summary of the steps you should take after you’ve been pickpocketed.

1. Stop panicking
   Listen: it’s not your fault. You need to be calm, especially because the next few steps need your attention.

2. Credit Card
   Cancel your credit card immediately. Report it as stolen so that if the thieves try to use it, they’ll get caught.

3. Passport
   Go to your local embassy and tell them your passport has been stolen. They’ll tell you what to do next.

4. Phone
   Call your phone company and report it as stolen. Some phones have a kill-switch so that you can disable it and possibly wipe all of its data from your computer. You can also use Find My Phone. (but do not chase them down Liam Neeson style. That’s just a bad idea)

5. Tickets
   Depending on your tickets, you can call the box office and report them as stolen. They may be able to do something, but there’s a chance that they won’t be able to. Just pray that whatever show you had tickets for ended up sucking.

6. Car Park Ticket
   We actually lost our car park ticket and we told the people at the car park. They didn’t seem to mind. We gave them our last name and they were able to locate it in their system. Some companies don’t have that kind of information and rely on the ticket to charge you. They might charge a fee for you not having the ticket.

7. Cash
   There’s nothing you can do about the cash. Sadly, you just have to accept it.

8. Sanity
   This is a traumatic event, and some people become obsessed and let their fears control them. It sucks, but you can’t let this one event control you for the rest of your life. Accept this as a lesson.

9. Camera
   You can’t do much here, either. But now you have a great story about how you survived a pickpocket on your travels. And trust me—that’s probably better than the classic slideshow.

Watch the video for more details and an explanation about what happened to me during my trip.