I haven't posted much in the Ecuador forums, but I have posted more than a few times in the Colombia forums, but alas, I no longer live in Colombia. Now I am in Ecuador for a couple of months. And here is something I wish somebody had told me when I first arrived here - pickpockets and one particular method used by a group of 3 --
While walking along a street where there are, at the time, no other people in sight, something liquid falls against your back. You stop to check it out and find a dark liquid had dropped, you look around, see nothing but balconies, and continue onward. Then a man appears and says you have something on your jacket and he immediately starts patting down your back, supposedly wiping off the stuff. Meanwhile, another man appears and hands you some napkins and he starts wiping your hands and cuffs on your sleeves. With all the patting going on the man in the back switches your wallet for an empty wallet. You don't notice because of the patting/wiping. All this happens in probably 30-45 seconds, definitely under a minute. They then say you should go to a particular place to clean up a bit more and while you are looking in that direction they both disappear in the opposite direction around the corner.
Thankfully, my wallet had only about a hundred dollars in it, not enough to cry over, but it also had my bank debit card, driver's license, and a photocopy of my passport. I have since gotten a new bank debit card, the driver's license I'll probably not replace because of the cost (and the fact that it will expire in the not-too-distant future), and the photocopy of the passport? It's just a piece of paper and by itself probably not important, but combined with the driver's license? Is this a potential problem?
While walking along a street where there are, at the time, no other people in sight, something liquid falls against your back. You stop to check it out and find a dark liquid had dropped, you look around, see nothing but balconies, and continue onward. Then a man appears and says you have something on your jacket and he immediately starts patting down your back, supposedly wiping off the stuff. Meanwhile, another man appears and hands you some napkins and he starts wiping your hands and cuffs on your sleeves. With all the patting going on the man in the back switches your wallet for an empty wallet. You don't notice because of the patting/wiping. All this happens in probably 30-45 seconds, definitely under a minute. They then say you should go to a particular place to clean up a bit more and while you are looking in that direction they both disappear in the opposite direction around the corner.
Thankfully, my wallet had only about a hundred dollars in it, not enough to cry over, but it also had my bank debit card, driver's license, and a photocopy of my passport. I have since gotten a new bank debit card, the driver's license I'll probably not replace because of the cost (and the fact that it will expire in the not-too-distant future), and the photocopy of the passport? It's just a piece of paper and by itself probably not important, but combined with the driver's license? Is this a potential problem?
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