If you go to Europe to visit, you need to be vary wary of the Roma or Gypsies as they used to be called. They prey on tourists and even get little kids in on the act as they try to pick your pocket. Had this experience in Florence. Unwary tourists seem to be their favorite prey.
true story..i always carry an empty wallet in my back pocket while travelling abroad, I got surounded by a pack of gypsy kids in Florence and they got my wallet and vanished, about a minute later a kid comes running out and throws my wallet at me shouting “bastardo” and takes off
Yes, a young girl/woman, 13 or so, tried to unzip my husband’s pack, right on the front side of his body. He grabbed her wrist and told her NO, and she got off the Metro. In Paris, that is.
The Gypsies will also drug their babies, toss them at tourists, and then, when you catch them and your hands are full, they’ll pick your pockets. Catching a baby is innate - tossing, not so much.
My mom was a Social Worker here in Los Angeles. The Gypsy families would come in when they were in town, activate their welfare cases, and collect. They were not poor, just knew how to work the system.