When I was trying to make sure a comment on my post about the stolen camera in Valencia was legit [i.e. not spam], I stumbled across this website: Some street scams in Barcelona.

It is a collection of stories about scams and thefts, mostly in Barcelona. And I have to say after reading just some of them I count myself lucky that I have not had anything stolen yet. In fact, as far as I can remember, no one has even tried to scam me. Maybe I just do not look like I have money or anything worth stealing [they may be right, I do not even have a wallet here, what is what pickpockets are usually after].

I also found the following pages on a blog of thief-hunters, and thought I would post the links because they might be helpful for anyone interested.

Purseology 101 & Pocketology 101 & some general advice.

Keep these in mind if you are going to visit any larger city in Europe.

While the incident in Valencia was the first time I really witnessed a theft, it was not the first time I encountered this here.

While my parents were visiting here, they would use backpacks which I know is not advisable but they only used them for water bottles, jackets and the tourist guide, anything not worth stealing basically. Not for wallets or their camera. When I took them to the airport, after we got on the bus going to the airport my mom noticed the small bag of her backpack was zipped open. I am 99% sure that she had not just left it open but that someone opened it in hopes of finding a wallet or camera or something else of value [and instead they just found about ten different pens, cheap reading glasses and other junk, haha].

While Bea was visiting, we were sitting on a bus going from Park Güell to Pl. Catalunya, when an Italian lady noticed her camera was gone after she got on the bus. Judging from where she was looking for it [she was standing right next to us], she had put it into the open pocket of her jacket which she had bound around her hips. Which is pretty much like asking someone to steal it [just like the couple at Starbucks]. It probably got stolen in the commotion when she got on the bus or while she was waiting at the bus stop [there were a lot of people].