Anti-Pickpocket Wallets

A reader recently left a comment about an interesting experiment by a teenager who vacationed with his family in Europe. He had heard about the prevalence of pickpockets in Europe, and he decided to see for himself if this were true by carrying a wallet in a way that would be tempting for pickpockets. The good news is that no one tried to steal his wallet.

This had me thinking if there were any wallets designed to defeat pickpockets. One example is this pickpocket-proof travel wallet which is designed to wear around your neck. Here's an example that's designed to work with a typical wallet that you carry in your pocket. It's called the Wallet Minder and it's a secure nylon wallet holder that attaches to your belt via an 18-inch aircraft-grade coated steel cable. It seems like that cable would be a tad uncomfortable.

Another option would be to use an electronic device that could sound an alarm if the wallet separates a certain distance from the pocket. Something like this could have helped my friend. He didn't have his wallet stolen, but he left it on top of his car while he was he was filling his car with gas. Being distracted by his cell phone, he forgot about the wallet, and it fell on the road where it was run over and turned into a pancake. He promised me he would provide a picture.

I found a few versions of such an electronic design at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Patent 4,884,062 and 6,919,805 have a device that would trigger as soon as the wallet is removed from the pocket. This could be annoying if the alarm goes off when you're using the wallet. Patent 5,396,218 has a better idea that uses two plastic cards (one would be placed in the wallet and the other placed elsewhere on the person). Wireless communication is used to trigger the alarm when the cards are separated within a defined range.

If these inventions are too high tech, you may prefer this anti-pickpocket wallet idea which is a wallet with a mouse trap-like device inside :-)

Based on that European experiment, these wallet inventions may be overkill.