It's known as the City of Light, but it risks becoming known as the city of the light-fingered.
Paris, the most visited city in the world by many counts, has been suffering a spate of pickpocketing -- and one of its main targets appears to be that relatively new group of tourists, the Chinese.
Petty crimes against Chinese nationals have jumped 22% in the city this year, according to Paris police.
Chinese visitors are thought to be particularly tempting because of a cultural preference for carrying cash over credit cards, the South China Morning Post reported.
They could also often be distracted more easily than some more experienced tourists.
Twitter warnings
Outraged visitors to Paris -- as well as Parisians themselves -- have posted warnings against the pickpocketing epidemic on Twitter.
"The annual August exodus from Paris has begun, the 7th arrondissement is deserted, only beggars, pickpockets ... and tourists [remain]," reads one post.
Another tweet warns, in French, of the latest pickpocketing technique: a thief pretends to be disabled and asks for your seat on the metro, only to relieve you of your possessions as you clumsily swap places.
A further post succinctly sums up the pickpockets' recent nationality bias: "Chinese tourists hate credit cards; French pickpockets love their cash."
Chinese tourism: The good, the bad and the backlash
Cash preference
Tourists from China not only often trust cash over cards but also, along with Russians, are among the biggest spenders in Paris -- and they often spend indiscreetly.
"I, and many people I know, have often been approached by the Asian tourists thronging outside the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysées, who approach you with cash to buy bags for them, as the store limits each customer to two," Paul Roll, director of the Office du Tourisme de Paris, told the Telegraph.
Parisian businesses are worried the risk of theft might drive Chinese travelers elsewhere.
The number of visitors from China to Paris last year, 1.4 million, was 23% up from 2011, the SCMP reports.
The city is a favorite destination among wealthy Chinese.
But a group of luxury retailers, including Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes, recently warned that top spenders would visit London or Milan instead, if Paris came to seem too risky.
Paris tries to befriend tourists... by stereotyping them
Extra police
French officials have acknowledged the pickpocketing surge, putting 200 extra police on patrol around top tourist attractions and publishing a "Guide to Staying Safe in Paris" in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish -- one of several such guides acknowledging the extent of the problem.
The Paris police advice goes little beyond the need to be vigilant, but it does warn against carrying a backpack -- which can easily be pilfered because it's usually out of direct view.
It also says some thieves in Paris are impersonating police and asking for ID and proof that tourists are carrying money, which they then try to snatch.
Perhaps the most widely noted pickpocketing technique is for thieves to approach marks at cash registers, asking if they can help with a "petition."
As they loiter, they note the customers' PINs, then follow them and pickpocket their cards to withdraw money themselves later.
Copy your passport
The U.S. embassy in Paris also publishes an anti-pickpocketing guide.
"Make a copy of your passport, and front and back of everything that you have in your wallet," is some of its less obvious advice.
"Ladies," it says, "only carry purses that zip."
The guide also warns against another pickpocketing technique -- the metro "crush and grab," whereby a bunch of fellow "passengers" jostle you and pick your pocket as you get on or off a train.
Spilling water or ice cream on a potential victim is yet another method. Profusely apologizing, one of a pickpocketing pair will vigorously dust you down after the fake accident, while a collaborator steals your wallet or camera.
Don't wear shorts
So recognized is the Paris pickpocketing problem, that even TripAdvisor has a dedicated page of advice. It recommends the BeSafe smartphone app, created by a pair of French students, which collates data from police reports to display the most crime-prone areas in Paris in real time.
It also suggests how not to look like an obvious tourist.
Use the small "Paris Pratique" guide, it says, favored by French visitors to the city, rather than a large foldout map.
And, finally, don't wear shorts: Parisians consider them only vacation attire.
據美國有線電視新聞網報道，巴黎被稱為燈火之城，如今卻有可能淪為慣偷之城。世界旅游勝地巴黎吸引各國游客的同時也引來了竊賊的光臨，喜歡攜帶現金的中國游客成為他們的主要目標。
***推特警告
據巴黎警方透露，巴黎今年發生的針對中國游客的輕微犯罪增長了22%。中國游客備受小偷的特別是因為他們偏愛攜帶現金而不是信用卡。另外，與更有經驗的游客相比，他們往往更容易分心。
憤怒的游客以及巴黎人紛紛在推特上發布警告。有人寫道“每年八月巴黎人外出度假已經開始，第七區空了，只剩下乞丐、扒手……和游客。”
有的提請注意法國最新的扒竊技術：小偷假扮殘疾，請你在地鐵上讓座，就在你忙不迭地讓座時，迅速偷走你的財物。
還有人簡潔地總結了扒手的喜好：“中國游客討厭信用卡，法國扒手喜歡他們的現金。”
中國游客不僅更信任現金而不是信用卡，而且和俄羅斯游客一起成為巴黎最大的消費者——他們往往不假思索地花錢。
“我和我認識的許多人經常碰到擠在香榭麗舍大街路易威登（LV）商店外面的亞洲游客。他們常常拿著現金找我們，讓我們幫他們買包，因為該店限制每位顧客只能買兩個包。”巴黎旅游局局長保羅·羅爾對英國《每日電訊報》說。
據媒體報道，去年前往巴黎觀光的中國游客多達140萬人，比2011年增長了23%。
但是，巴黎企業擔心失竊風險可能會促使中國游客移師他處。包括香奈爾、路易威登和愛馬仕在內的奢侈品零售商最近警告說，如果巴黎變得太危險，這些頂級消費者將轉而游覽倫敦或米蘭。
***不要背包
法國官員承認扒竊案件激增，增派200名警察在熱門景點周圍巡邏，推出中文、日語、韓語和西班牙語的《巴黎旅游安全指南》。
巴黎警方建議游客保持必要的警惕，警告游客不要背著包，因為背包通常不在視野范圍之內，更容易為竊賊光顧。
指南還指出，巴黎的一些小偷甚至冒充警察，要求拿著現金的游客出示身份證件和證明材料，然后伺機搶劫。
小偷還往往接近收銀機旁的偷竊對象，一邊磨蹭一邊記下顧客的身份證號碼，然后尾隨顧客，偷取他們的信用卡，隨后自己去取錢。
***復印護照
美國駐巴黎大使館也發布了一個反扒指南，建議游客“復印你的護照以及錢包一切物品的正反面”，并要求“女士們，只攜帶有拉鏈的錢包。”
指南還提醒游客防范另一種扒竊技術——在你上下地鐵時，一群“乘客”在你身邊擠來擠去，順勢掏你身上的口袋。
還有一招是向人身上濺水或冰淇淋，然后不停地道歉，拼命拂去你身上的污跡，另一名合作者則趁機偷走你的錢包或相機。
***不穿短褲
巴黎扒竊問題嚴重，甚至著名旅游網站TripAdvisor專門建立了一個反扒建議網頁，推薦使用由法國兩名學生設計的手機應用程序BeSafe——它收集了來自警方報告的數據，能夠實時顯示巴黎最易發犯罪地區；還向游客說明如何讓自己看起來不那么像游客：不要使用折頁的大地圖，不要穿短褲，因為巴黎人認為短褲只是度假服裝。 |
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