Pickpockets Thieving at Portobello Market

London, England - Portobello Market, one of London's most famous markets, has a notorious reputation for pickpockets and other thieves. Immediately after stepping off the tube and up onto the road there are warning signs all over. Women need secure bags while men should have their wallets in their front pockets. Really, though, in this day and age of CCTV (control-circuit television) is there that much of a danger?

To test theory out I was going to need a few wallets, a couple 10 pound notes, and quite a few fake bills to bust the wallet seams. None of these items were too hard to get and a bit of creative artwork got me all the fake 20 pound notes I needed. From here the plan was simple. My girlfriend would keep her purse secure (with my spare wallets in there) while my plump wallet would be in my extremely loose back pockets. At very crowded areas we would buy something small-say a little antique for five pounds-in hopes of showing the potential thieves my wad of cash from a distance. They just had to get enough of a view to mark me as their next target. Would I get tailed and picked or make it through the day clean as a whistle?

Now in the event I was targeted by a bit of a novice I would not confront my pickpocket; after all, there is not a lot I could do about it after the act with no police around and they would likely already be unnoticeable anyway.

So before getting off the tube I unloaded my real wallet to the girlfriend and put my ammunition in my right back pocket. A few minutes walk from the train station and we were at quite the mass of people among the start of the antiques market. It seems to be that people crowd at the new sections of the market and gradually spread out. As such this was the perfect time. To my left was a nice little five pound bin of various jewels. Nothing too spectacular, but I was not here for browsing or purchasing really.

After browsing for just a minute or two-playing the part of an excited buyer-it was time to make my purchase. Flashing my wallet about to take out a fiver a new fake diamond earring set was mine. Did I snag anyone; am I now a mark? It was time to find out. After a few minutes walking along the parade we hit another shop. Having given any pickpockets ample time to tail me and do their work it was time to find the result of the first test. As I reached for my wallet at the stall my surprise struck up when my hand emerged with no wallet. Indeed, I had been pickpocketed.

As I said before part of the plan was to use multiple wallets: five were brought along so only four were left. Over the course of the next three hours all four wallets were taken although some took longer to disappear than others. Quite obviously it was not by the same pickpocket each time. Thus, at least five pickpockets were active in the market that Saturday, which tells me that there is indeed a real danger in the market. Next time you are wandering about London do make sure to mind your valuables or you may soon find them missing.