Clever pick pocket ?

There is almost no chance of someone you don’t know doing that. If someone knows you and steals from you, it is more likely that they would put the wallet back. i.e. your friend did it.

personally, I would have immediately asked my friend to show me his wallet, and see if there was > $150 in it…..

I would never accuse a friend of stealing $150 from me.

If this was a fairly recent event, there’s a very real possibility that the theft might have been “witnessed” by the restaurant’s video tape system, if they have one in place.

Nowadays, many businesses, to protect themselves from litigation, have hidden video cameras, constantly monitoring (and taping) the activities of customers, and I know of two examples (told to me by a Las Vegas friend):

In one, a woman (called a fall down queen) pretended to slip/fall in a restaurant, and my friend witnessed this, and brought it to the attention of the restaurant manager. The videotape showed that she was faking her fall, and when confronted by the police with the evidence against her, she confessed that she didn’t have enough money to pay for her breakfast, and that, “it always worked, before..” (My friend, for alerting the manager, got her breakfast free.)

In another incident, a woman’s purse was stolen (and not returned). But, a review of the restaurant’s video tape showed that one of the restaurant employees had stolen it. He was fired and prosecuted, of course.

And they all lived, happily ever after…

@Mritty—Your friendship isn’t worth $150?

JackAdams – if someone stole $150 from me, he wouldn’t be much of a friend, now would he?

Play the scenario out in your head again. You have money going into the restaurant. You leave your friend with your jacket for 10 minutes. As you leave the restaurant you have no money. You ask your friend if anything happened while you were away. He says “Nope, no one came near your jacket.” If I was sure I had the money beforehand, you’re darn right I would ask him. I might try to do it a little playfully, so he thinks I’m half-joking, but under those circumstances, I would absolutely ask to see his wallet.

Well, in light of that, my response would have to be:

Assassination is always an option

why on earth was your wallet not in your back right pocket of your pants? I would never leave my wallet out in a public place like that…even under supervision of a friend.

Yea no kidding. I was actually thinking that earlier when I responded. I would never be in this situation because I never leave my wallet in my jacket.

My wallet is NEVER carried in my BACK pocket.

My uncle once demonstrated how easy it was to steal, from there.

I have once been paranoid that I would be pick pocketed, so I simply put my wallet in my front pocket (I was in a very crowded city).

I don’t think anyone could pick pocket my back pocket unless I was severely being distracted (my back pockets are usually tight).

I put my wallet in my front pocket if I’m somewhere unfamiliar and/or crowded, like a big city or a sports stadium or state fair. Even sometimes a crowded mall…

As I say this was an expensive lesson for me, I accept the wallet shouldn’t have been where is was, the wallet was in my jacket pocket and the pocket was clipped shut. I checked on a few occassions to make sure the clip was still on.
Why though would a pick pocket put the wallet back in, this doesn’t make sense to me ?
It is three movements for the pick pocket to make, one; to put the hand in to remove my wallet, two; take the money out of the wallet, and three; to put it back in again without being seen. Why would a pick pocket risk the last movement ?

The pick pocket would only risk the last movement if he didn’t want you to immediately notice. For example if this pick pocket was hanging out with you, he might do a thing like that. If it was a casual encounter where you were pick pocketed, there is no way in hell that they would put the wallet back. They don’t have to continue to hang out with you so it wouldn’t matter to them when you discover the money is missing.

The typical pick-pocket would also take your credit cards too. Sure, you’d report them stolen, but before that happens, he could get away with a purchase or two. The only reason not to take the cards would be if he knew he wasn’t going to have an opportunity to use them before you noticed them missing. Sorry, but I’m still on your “friend” as the culprit here.

…that, or your memory was failing and you didn’t have the money in the wallet to begin with

The last movement to put the wallet back is the strange bit, especially with the cards just left there. As much as I don’t want to think this I do have my suspicions about my friend. In hindsight, when I mentioned it to him in the restaurant he said did you lose it under the table and then he got me to check my other pockets and the rest of my jacket immediatley. I know for a fact that the money wasn’t anywhere else nor could have fallen out.

just as a note to all you back-pocket-wallet people: Keeping your wallet in your back pocket isn’t good for your back. When you sit, no matter whether you notice or not, it makes you sit unevenly. Especially for those with tri-fold wallets that tend to be a bit thick, you should keep your wallet in your front pocket anyway

Poof: Costanza wallet!

Rande: Were you travelling? I know that in Budapest, it’s quite common for pickpockets (and waiters!) to have card-swiping machines. They don’t actually need to keep the card to get your information, they just swipe it once. Though that would add like a gazillion other moves to the ones you outlined. But definitely makes them harder to track.

No, wasn’t traveling. I think the odds are against a pick pocket putting a wallet back in this case.

Rand: Are you saying you think it’s your friend? =(

I am not really sure, he hasn’t been in contact since. I would think if he was genuine he would have checked to see did I hear anything or did it turn up. It happened 2 weeks ago.

@rand: He’s starting to look more like the culprit here, unfortunately :(

What is significant is that my wallet was put back in my jacket pocket, can’t understand that. If the wallet was removed I wouldn’t have doubts about him. I am beginning to think he thought he was being clever by putting the wallet back and then immediately trying to put doubt in my mind about whether I may have lost the money. (I know I didn’t lose it, I had it in the wallet when entering the restarant)