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Jackie: The Louvre in Paris claims to be the most visited art museum in the world with almost 10 million visitors last year.

Richard: But for this week's podcastsinenglish.com we're not talking about art, we're talking about pickpockets.

Jackie: So Richard, what's the connection then between the Louvre and pickpockets?

Richard: Well, in April of this year, the Louvre had to close because many of the staff were on strike, complaining about the huge numbers of pickpockets there.

Jackie: Yeah, so how were they working, Richard?

Richard: Well, the first thing, they weren't working alone, they were working in big gangs.

Jackie: Right

Richard: Actually quite aggressive er... gangs er... targeting visitors and also the staff.

Jackie: Now Paris, apparently, is one of the five cities where people have most complained about pickpockets.

Richard: It's Paris and also the big cities in Spain: Madrid, Barcelona...

Jackie: ...Athens and Rome. We don't think the answer is to avoid going to those cities 'cos they're very exciting but we do have some top tips about not getting pickpocketed.

Richard: Well, the first rule really is always be on your guard. It's quite simple, you've always got to be aware. It happened to me once um... I was walking along a normal street and someone was walking towards me and, basically, they made me stop and as they stopped, the person behind me accidentally, accidentally on purpose, bumped into me and when he bumped into me I could feel his hand go straight into my pocket in order to get my wallet. Fortunately, I was aware so I managed to grab his hand, take it out of my pocket and then I  just disappeared.

Jackie: But you know people on holiday and they're relaxing and they want to look at the sights, they can't be on their guard all the time.

Richard: You have to be.

Jackie: Yeah, but another idea is... is  wearing a money belt, that's very popular these days but again, you've got...

Richard: [laughs] I have another story of that, this time in Indonesia. Um... someone told me they had a money belt on, they were crowded by a number of people on this bus and then all of a sudden, all these people left the bus and he looked onto the ground and he saw his passport. And he thought how was that there?

Jackie: On... on the floor of the bus?

Richard: On the floor of the bus. And then he looked down and what they'd actually done, they'd crowded him and with a very sharp knife, had knifed through his T-shirt, through his money belt, taken his money and then just thrown his passport on the floor. He felt nothing.

Jackie: I think the best thing really is to carry a day's spending in your pocket, only take the amount that you're actually prepared to lose, right?

Richard: Right, okay.

Jackie: So, do you really need your credit cards for that day? Don't have your passport with you. If you need your passport have a photocopy of it. So I think that, you know, decide what you're going to do today, think about how much money you need for that and leave the rest in, you know, obviously in a lock-up place in the hotel.

Richard: Good advice.

Jackie: And I would also say, Richard, that you should, if you're on holiday, leave your mobile phone behind but I think one of the problems with that is that people are now using their mobile phones as cameras, aren't they?

Richard: Mmmm. I think it's very common in Italy: people have their lunch 'al fresco', leave their mobile phone on the table, someone comes up um... in a... on a scooter, and just grabs the mobile phone off the table.

Jackie: Yes

Richard: Gone