9 Levels of Pickpocketing: Easy to Complex | WIRED

my name is Ben Sidman and today I've been challenged to break down pickpocketing in nine levels of [Music] complexity there are two types of pickpocketing the criminally invasive type that is devastating and the fun theatrical pickpocketing I am of course the latter option because if I was actually stealing things on the street I wouldn't say it on camera as a disclaimer this is my interpretation of the challenge level one the table steel hey what's your name I'm Erica hey Erica Ben I'm just with production um did they have you sign a release already uh no no can you is that okay if we have you sign it we're we're going to start filming in just a second you can look at it you don't have to uh you don't have to sign it now just give it a quick look through if you want okay um thanks level one is all about simply hiding the steel a thief will typically use an object as cover this is called shade the Mark is the person who is is about to be stolen from otherwise known as the chump so in this case I'm using the release as shade on the clipboard so she looked at the release and the moment she looked up at me using the clipboard as cover I just picked the phone up at that moment too I wanted her to maintain ey contact with me so I got a little closer to her visual space at that point my hand went South with her phone and I pocketed it this is a common steal used by criminals on the street because it is by far the easiest to execute it requires almost no Tech technical skill but it does rely on distraction and some choreography hey uh Erica yes to with all the talent anyone who's appearing in this video we're doing a quick selfie so smile awesome cool and uh do you want a copy of this photo sure sure why not well you have one this is your phone oh yeah it is yeah that's yours you can have that back thank you level two outside breast pocket hey how's it going I'm Ben hey Ben I'm Sam Sam nice to meet you thank you for being here you don't know what we're doing yet no not yet but I want you to take this index card with your left hand and the pen in your right hand oh can you grab that yeah yeah thanks I'm defining complexity in these levels based on how difficult the steals are to accomplish both physically but also based on the misdirection that I have to use to direct people's attention away from the Steels level two is all about hiding the motion of the steel this is also the easiest of any of the pocket Steels because the shade and the movement is built directly into the moment I'm letting the mark use his own kinetic energy to basically do the steel for me so I'm going to have you get ready to write something down so first of all Sam I want you to write down whether or not you like my new pair of sunglasses oh my oh my [Music] gosh level three the ID badge steel what's your name Alex Alex Ben nice to meet you Ben I uh I suppose I guess I could have just looked down and seen what your name was you know they say that a good way to remember people's names besides reading it is to like make eye contact and then say it out loud for level three my main goal is to hide my intent as I'm meeting the participants I'm lying to some of them about who I am and what this whole video is for when I steal badges I like to do it in two steps typically you don't want heat on the item that you're stealing but in this case calling attention to it helps hide the first move we call this painting it red if you can't hide something make it more obvious the release of the badge can sometimes be audible so I snap my fingers in the context of the script that helps hide the sound I'm putting the ID badge steel at level three because it's closer to the Natural eyeline of The Spectator it also requires openly touching the item that I'm stealing if I don't execute the steel perfectly the mark could feel the tug of the band around their neck or hear the sound of the badge detaching there's a lot of trip wires with this one but another good way to remember someone's name is to have it written down somewhere which is why I have this that's yours did you feel me take it no you are you're good level four outside jacket pocket Shelby I'm Ben hi Ben nice to meet you nice to meet you thank you so much for coming and being a part of this I have a uh a deck of cards for you actually okay I'm going to do a magic trick amazing okay tell me out of curiosity you can just relax um do you have uh do you have inside jacket pockets in this jacket uh no don't okay that's fine don't worry about that um in that case I'll have you just put these in your back pocket okay and then for the shot can we get you guys to face our camera down there and you want us like close together like this close you can get okay perfect that's great pretty close that's great level four is all about hiding the sensation of the steel pick pockets on the street choose locations to work where people are naturally shoved together so the environment actually provides the intent of the steel on stage I have to figure out if someone actually has something in this pocket so I use a technique known as Fanning and that's just you feeling to see if they have anything in their pocket I actually stole This Woman's wallet and then replaced it back in her pocket because I didn't want to blow my cover and I wanted to show you a second way to execute this steel I might open somebody's jacket to indicate to something this provides shade it also keeps the jacket farther away from their body which means that the dip is much harder to feel the second method is much closer to what you might see a pickpocket do on the street with people crowded together I use the jacket as shade and then I just very carefully dipped in so I could make the steel without her knowing so Shelby uh by the way I have a confession to make okay I know that the camera guys were positioning us next to each other you're actually not here to say a magic trick at all okay this entire video has been about pickpocketing great and tell me Shelby does this wallet look like yours amazing amazing are we still rolling on that okay good level five stealing a smartwatch so Amber uh tell me are you familiar with tarot cards barely but have you ever had your tarot red no no okay have you ever had your palm red no I don't think maybe once hold on to those I'm going to see okay so I'm not an expert on this but we are we're filming a thing about reading people that's your Lifeline right there I think that's your love line I'm not good at this stuff as you may see but um yeah I think I think we can do this can I have you uh stand up for me actually will you stand watch your step right over there yeah take one step this way watches are rarely stolen outside of a performance situation but they're very very effective when performing in front of an audience the physical steel is only part of the picture in every case I have to manage the broad attentional focus of the person I'm performing for I begin by establishing the context of the situation and building Rapport and Trust I also am conditioning The Spectator to my touch for example I'm just putting this silver dollar in my hand that's like the first time that I touch her then I touch her again same thing happens so in her mind she gets comfortable with that touch and so when I do the sneaky thing she has gotten comfortable with the touch so as I bring her to her feet I slip my thumb in between the two parts of the watch band and I separate the band from the pin once I do that I slide the watch off of her wrist now there are a lot of trip wires here the part of the watch that moves the most is actually the part that's sitting up against her skin so I have to be mindful that that rubber dragging on her skin isn't something that she feels also once I open the band the sides of the watch could hit her arm or her body as I go south with the watch that's why I'm using the bigger motion of her standing up and me moving her to cover the smaller motion of me stealing the watch now I'm using a combination of everything we've learned from all of the previous levels I'm hiding the steal I'm hiding the motion I'm hiding the intent and I'm also hiding the sensation Bas the camera that's perfect and then uh I'm going to ask you a couple quick questions starting with does this watch look familiar that was on my wrist level six the traditional watch Steel uh Lauren I am a magician and I'm going to play a game with you where you get a chance to win some money how does that sound yeah good for me so I have 100 and a $2 bill you get the $2 bill and I want you to take it and fold it in half like that and then fold it in half again and then one more time into a square perfect now uh if you wouldn't mind hold out your hand great uh I want you to hold on to both of those bills but turn your hand Palm down like that that's perfect now I can't take those out without you feeling me do it so I'm just going to openly go in and take one of them out okay and in this case oh bummer in this case I got the two but do me a favor uh with your right hand hold on to my wrist and hold like tightly like actually hold tightly beautiful watch that too because it changes what the okay to the 100 that's so awesome look in your hand dang dude I wanted that 100 like any steel I have to manipulate the broad attentional focus of the subject broad distractions don't really work here because the subject could look back and catch me at any time now there are different ways to manipulate someone's attention you can overwhelm someone's attention you could split someone's attention and then of course drawing someone's attention to one specific thing here I'm using a combination of all of these techniques I give the mark two different bills to focus on now I've Justified why I'm touching her she is condition to my touch and I'm splitting her attention between two different things as I hold her wrist I execute the first part of the steel bringing the tail end of the watch out from under the two Loops next the attention splitting begins I remove one of the two bills and ask her to look at it to do this I illustrate by grabbing her other wrist and at that moment I'm able to actually pull back on the band kick the pin free move the tail of the watch to a diagonal so it doesn't re-engage in a second hole and then the final part of the steel happens at the same time as the visual special effect moment happens where the two bills magically change places but the timing has to be exactly perfect the moment that the bills switch places all of the attention shoots back to her other hand it's possible for the steel to take place entirely using the thumb with the person's wrist face up although this steel is physically easier the mark could theoretically look down at any point which makes it more challenging in that way so the timing here has to be perfect and the execution surgical but I do want to give you a gift here's your gift it is a uh it is a watch does it look familiar dude no way dude oh my God you can have that back thank you level seven the pants Pockets deal what's your name I'm John John nice to meet you thank you so much for being here than so much for of course I'm going to have you stand maybe one quick uh uh no no you were good over there just one little step back that's perfect beautiful um now uh John this is a about pickpocketing and uh pickpockets when they're looking for things to steal they can either uh see where they are in a pocket or they can fan you which is like kind of bumping up against feeling where things are for example I now know that you have something in this pocket is that correct I think it's a wallet that's probably is that a wallet you have here awesome okay so you got the wallet there and then down over here in that pocket uh what is that is that your phone that would be the phone yes see there you go that's the interesting thing uh most people what they'll do is they'll have the phone in one of the pants Pockets um but then if you have the phone down here the wallet is always up here that's always what happens I'm putting the pants pocket steel at level s for a variety of reasons first of all the steals happening next to a very sensitive area of the body pickpocketing someone in skinny jeans is harder because it's easier for them to feel it this involves pinching the pocket which moves the wallet up for a later steel all criminal Steels are heavily environmental and different techniques are used in different places for one thing wallet steals from pants Pockets often happen from the back pocket otherwise known as the Pratt a method frequently used for this steel is called tapping the poke in this case the wallet is actually pressed up from the bottom so that it sticks out of the pocket stall hopping is a term for a pickpocket stealing someone's wallet while they're sitting on the toilet we decided that we're not going to show you footage of that one for obvious reasons and if you do want to see footage of that one you should look inward John I really appreciate you coming here and letting me explain uh what Fanning means but before I go I got a call on my phone but this dog looks familiar how did you do that is that your phone that's very much my phone yeah you can have that back thank you you didn't feel me take it did not feel you take it that's a good sign by the way now is a good time to acknowledge the fact that our camera operators and director photography are actually very very good and talented hey D yeah is this your credit card jeez God is this yours uh yeah I I think so yeah sorry I took that during lunch level eight the inside jacket pocket I put the inside jacket pocket at level eight because of the complexity of the moves the proximity to the subject's chest and the level of invasiveness and physical contact that I have to make with the mark when I do the steel almost no one carries big billfold wallets like this anymore which is a huge bummer because they are really easy to steal before I begin I have to determine if someone has something in this pocket known as the pit the first thing I always do is look for the silhouette of an item in the jacket but this doesn't necessarily work especially if they're wearing a really heavyweight jacket in that case I move on to my other line of defense which is Fanning well our brains are constantly getting bombarded by tons of tons of different signals most people what they'll do is they'll have the phone in one of the pants Pockets um but then if you have the phone down here the wallet is always up here but evolution has cut off some portion of those signals as a survival mechanism if we registered all of these things we wouldn't be able to function at all by adding extra signals and overloading The Mark with Sensations and thoughts they have so much data to process that they actually miss the most important part and the steel flies under the radar I open the jacket and top the Poke as I gesture towards the the wallet I execute the dip using the jacket as shade and direct his attention to something else you've gotten this far in the video which means that you know what all of that means I mean how cool is that John uh also one more thing that wallet that you had in your upper pocket come on there you go buddy the final level stealing someone's neck tie the reason you're here we're shooting this project about men's fashion which is why we asked you to dress up ahead of time and you did not disappoint thank you this is fantastic I love the look of everything uh have you you worn the suit before right yeah I've broken it a even with the tie as well yeah yeah it looks really nice um let's have you take one quick step back just a small one uh split the difference right there that's perfect okay great the nice thing about this fabric is that it looks like it doesn't hold wrinkles very much no it doesn't yeah yeah see that's the thing about when you get those hybrids is that you can uh the fabric you can actually uh believe it or not put it in a suitcase and it still looks great um and if you look over on this side you you have a watch on this side right I do yeah okay and it matches your outfit you feel like I feel like it beautiful I'm going to have you turn around so we can see the full profile Yep looks very very nice that's great and then uh lastly but not leastly um I want to comment on the fact that you've got a bunch of pockets like down here you have a pocket that looks very nice and then um of course over here you have a pocket that's uh the pants pocket you can put a lot of a lot of different things over here right and then over there over there you've got another one so you look fantastic man so much yeah it's a it's a great quality suit I saved the best for last this is my favorite steel because it seems completely insane first travel back to the 1950s when people wore ties that's actually the hardest part about this deal is finding someone who's wearing a tie I suggest finding a wealthy oil Mogul step one is to determine how the knot is tied it could be a simple knot a foreign hand a windsor Half Windsor Etc I can usually figure out what type of knot It Is by looking at it this also tells me which side of his body I'm going to stand on so you have to also be able to execute the steel both right and left-handed first I have to get my thumb and First Finger under his collar but above his jacket I also have to do this as I'm touching him and sort of moving him around I move him into place as I gesture to his neck tie and then I start sliding the tie out of the knot now depending on how tight the knot is going to be is going to determine how hard I'm going to have to pull really tight knots are harder to steal but either way I slowly begin to pull pieces of that tail out of the knot you'll notice that I I put my hand on his back I move him into position I'm talking to him the entire time constantly splitting his attention and referencing different things about the clothing that he's wearing once I clear the small end of the tie out of the knot I have to move the large end of the tie off to his other shoulder so I gesture to his other side as I grab the tie and flip it to the back at this point on stage I like to bring the person around in a circle asked them to do a 360 because he has no idea what's going on but to the audience this is hilarious next all I have to do is pull it out of his collar and I am good to go I started Fanning this guy and immediately saw and felt that he had other things in his pockets and since this was the last level I could not help myself and I took everything that I could I've been taking your things including no is this your beard comb is that what that is yeah it is what and this is I believe that is your uh your uh of course what else oh yeah and then your tithe oh my God so you can put oh yeah and I've got one more thing your car keys do you drive a Toyota are these yours those are yeah that's yours okay and then lastly but not leastly your phone is this your phone that is that's not my phone no whose phone did I [Music] take every steel is different based on the person what they're wearing who they are what the context is what the environment is as much as I'd like to call myself a master of these techniques I still feel very much like I'm learning I hope after watching this video you have a greater understanding for the world of pickpocketing thanks for [Music] watching

Channel: WIRED

Views: 5,044,511

Keywords: attenzione pickpocket, attenzione pickpockets, ben seidman, ben seidman magic, easy pickpocket, easy pickpocketing, how to pickpocket, how to prevent pickpocketing, levels, levels pickpocket, levels pickpocketing, pick pocket, pick pocketing, pick pockets, pickpocket, pickpocket easy, pickpocket magic, pickpocket skills, pickpocket technique, pickpocket techniques, pickpocket tutorial, pickpocketing, pickpockets, prevent pickpocket, stealing, wired, wired levels

Id: Vk__KOrsIMM

Length: 18min 14sec (1094 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 30 2023