How to NOT get robbed while traveling

I saw this article on CNN.com and thought it might be of interest to our readers.

How To NOT Get Robbed While Traveling

(Frank II)

Comments

[Dan]

Avoid accepting any soda/ drinks from strangers. You never know
what is in the drink.
Also only travel with inexpensive stuff that one could easily replace.
A decoy wallet is helpful with just the local currency.
A high decibel whistle is handy to draw attention.
Use common sense and be very observant of your surroundings.
I am reminded of a story I read many years ago when a Sikh gentleman
was attacked by some thugs in Thailand. He happened to have some
chilli powder in a packet which he used to his advantage in their eyes.
Another story I read was a Black belt in karate who was attacked in
London.All he could think of was using his umbrella to defend himself.LOL.

[Andrew]

The worst case scenario would be the two young Brits who wound up robbed and murdered after a night of bar hopping in South Florida. Somewhere in the wee hours they left the bar with unsavory new local 'friends' who were supposedly giving them a lift back to their hotel, and of course instead drove them to a ghetto area where accomplices, alerted by cell phone from the bar, were waiting with guns.
One or more of the criminals was especially stupid and the robbery turned into a double murder.
No one deserves this, the perps should all fry, I'm not blaming the victims, but basic safety/survival rules were disregarded, with tragic yet wholly avoidable results.

[Andrew]

That said, you're more likely to be pickpocketed than robbed by threat of violence.

Leave valuables at home, except camera, smartphone, whatever you consider a travel essential. Consider using a cheap watch that's functional but not valuable.

Don't put your valuables down for even a split second. Especially your phone.

Zippered pockets. Zippered pockets. Zippered pockets.

Don't carry bags/cameras/phones where they can be snatched by mopeds/bicyclists/joggers, who may also whack you on the head, back or legs with something that leaves a nasty concussion, or stitches while they make the snatch and keep going while you're dazed on the pavement.

Gangs of small urchin-aged kids swarming at you mean you are about to be surrounded in a mewling surge of a hundred well-trained little hands, with or without razor blades to slash your pockets or shoulder straps. Run. If already surrounded you may have to sling some little bodies out of your path to make a break for it.

Don't be too reassured by the visible presence of police in a pickpocket-prone tourist area. The cops are usually in on it for their share, or else the pickpockets couldn't continue to operate if the cops weren't their wiling partners. Keep your guard up.