Are YOU easy prey for pickpockets?

Watch a professional demonstrate a way that victims are targeted – and he reveals how you can avoid being robbed

How vulnerable do you think you are to pickpockets?

You might be more of an easy target than you think, as cunning thieves strike in several everyday scenarios from the cash machine to the end of the escalator. 

Yet all it takes are a few small adjustments to make sure you never appear easy prey.

MailOnline enlisted the help of professional on-stage pickpocket Matt Windsor to enact the seven common ways we make ourselves vulnerable to light-fingered thieves – and the simple ways you can prevent them.

'Magic' Matt, the only known person to have pickpocketed a member of The Royal Family, albeit at a fundraiser, shows how crooks often team up in pairs to distract their targets. 

Windsor – whose sleight-of-hand victims include Prince Edward - plays either the role of the pocket 'picker' or the 'staller', alongside a 'co-thief', to rob an unsuspecting blonde-haired passer-by in London. 

He's been working as a magician and pickpocket for 20 years, having taught himself how to steal people's belongings unsuspected.

'I learnt from books written by guys who did it as a stage act in the music hall days back in the 1940s. It took a couple of years to learn,' said Windsor who has now turned the skill into a full-time job.

Scenario: The Busy Street 

Zipped bags are not automatically safe, however, and those with easy to unzip bags are frequently picked upon while walking down a busy street.

In this scenario, a picker can potentially follow the victim for several minutes, slowly unzipping their bag a little at a time before snatching the contents.

 

A professional pickpocket can unzip a bag bit by bit as they stalk their victim up a busy street

Here pedestrians should swing their bags to their front or cover them with an arm to be extra careful.

'Traffic lights are a good place for pickpockets to unzip a bag and stick their hand in,' said Windsor. 'This is a really common method.' 

What is the solution then?

The best way to prevent you from being an easy prey for pickpockets is by carrying a bag that is hard to pick-pocket from.

Check our Bobby Bag - Anti-theft Backpack for more information.

So...

Have a safe trip :)