Dubai Police reveal 3 key pickpocketing methods used by thieves

Dubai - The methods usually target bank customers carrying large amounts of money without exercising due caution.

In a proactive new strategy to protect bank customers, Dubai’s Naif Police Station has revealed the main ways pickpockets in the area operate.

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According to Emarat Al Youm, police say that their new strategy is based on identifying both pickpockets’ methods and their potential victims, who are often bank customers carrying large sums of money without exercising due caution.

Police have ascertained that pickpockets often work in gangs of at least 2-3 people and use one of three methods.

They might spit or throw a red substance at an unwitting victim’s clothes and pretend to help them clean it up, while their associates carry out the theft.

A second strategy pickpockets use is to bump into their victims and then steal from them, while 'helping' them get back up on their feet.

Yet others use a razor or a blade to cut victims’ pockets without them realising. However, this method is more uncommon because it requires more skill.

Police say that identifying these strategies have helped them develop hypothetical scenarios that allow them to prevent the crime from occurring, reducing pickpocketing in the area by 87 per cent compared to the previous two years.

These crimes decreased from about 57 in 2018 to 31 in 2019, dropping to seven crimes in 2020 and just two crimes during the first quarter of this year.

• Dubai