Plan your Beijing travel? Be vigilant about pickpockets! Pickpockets, like croaches, die hard. The thieves in Beijing are no exception like every large city in the world. The most endangered places are public bus lines, subways, airport, popular tourist spots and shopping centers as well. These crowded places are where pickpockets often cruise around.
Tourists both domestic and international are the main targets and preys of the local pickpockets. Unfamiliar with the new surroundings, tourists are hard to concentrate their attention to looking after their belongings.
These pickpockets usually work in teams. Some of them are in charge of stealing the money or the valubales, while the others are arranged to keep you busy and distract your concentration. Very often you become a victim of being sandwiched by these two group of thieves in good team work.
Though fortunately the local police are often there on these crowded places in civic disguise, you have to take care of yourself in most cases due to the fact that Beijing is so huge and the police don’t have sufficient man power to have total surveilance in these endangered places.
There is a special anti-pickpocket brigade at Beijing Security Bureau. These plainclothes police are scattered at such pickpocket favored places as train stations, public bus stops and touristy spots. In the past 5 years approxi 22,000 thieves have been arrested in Beijing.
If you are picked, or you find other being picked, or you have pickpocket clues, you are encouraged to call the anti-pickpocket hotline 110 or 64011327. If you find you are not in the good position to call the hotline in case you will be endangered, you are kindly reminded to send a text message to the anti-pickpoket hotline mobile – 13911991234. They will be on the spot within 20 minutes.
Again anti-pockpocket hotline:
Tel:110
Tel: 64011327
Cellphone: 13911991234
Happy Travel in Beijing!
I Lost my wallet, triad to send a text but I couldn’t reach them. Police arrived after 15 min but suggested to go the nearest police station and make a report. It’s not what I was expected. I saw a man who pushed me and stole my wallet, I tried to call police press any alarm button in a subway, asked for help… didn’t work. The man made few steps into crowed and for me after few minutes everyone looked the same. Almost 5000 RMB gone, 100 EUR, some US dollars and all credit cards, iD docs.
Nobody picked these phones. Police arrived but they didn’t speak English, French, German, Spanisch. They didn’t mąkę any reportaż any notes. They send me to the hotel and sugestie to go to the police in order to make a statement ( report)…. I don’t know if they keek a CCTV footage because I know exact time and location and from the pictures I was able to recognize the man.
I was picked on 14.06.2013 before 10.15 hrs in subway line 2 station Dongzhimen – Dongsi/Shitiao. I arrived with the express train directly from the airport. I was having a big black north face bag, black t- shirt and lung blue jeans trousers. I thought was the last passanger in a car but then a man jumped into and pushed me to get more inside. It was him, around 50’s, 160 cm. He was standing in the coner of the door. Then he escaped in the crowed. I hope the police still keep the CCTV footage, because they weren’t able to provide the service I expected…
Hello John,
Sorry for what has happended to you! Just keep alert on anybody approaching to you or talking to you. Have a good stay in Beijing!