Scam City: Prague’s Pretty Pickpockets

This is a GUEST POST by Scam City camera crew member MEG BARNARD.

During our research for the Prague episode of Scam City, we had come across the pickpocket scam perpetrated by beautiful women in Prague in the Czech Republic. They essentially approach drunken male tourists, flirt with them and feel them up, while at the same time stealing their wallets. Our ideal situation was to witness one of these girls in action and get it on camera.

Conor Woodman (the host of Scam City) was always rigged up in his secret filming gear so that if anything was to happen, he would be able to capture it.

On one of Conor’s nights in Prague, we arranged for him to go on a bar crawl run by a local American expat named Chuck. Chuck had lived in Prague for years, and knew all of the scams against tourists, as many of them happened to his punters on the bar crawl. Chuck became a guide on what to watch out for in Prague, from fake drugs to these sexy female pickpockets.

We wanted to do a walk-and-talk interview between Conor and Chuck on the red epic camera, expecting that this camera’s presence would put off any potential scammers. However, mid-way through their chat, a girl approached Chuck and attempted to pickpocket him. It happened so fast, and we were all standing there a little awestruck, as we couldn’t believe that this girl was so brazen. We weren’t sure whether she even noticed the camera, or simply didn’t care.

For us—a film crew—this was one of those rare filming opportunities… you wish and hope that you can capture something as exciting as a live pickpocket on your main camera, but normally resign yourself to the fact that it will only really happen on the secret camera. So to see it happen right there, in front of our cameraman Steve, as well as our sound man and director (the filming entourage, if you like), was just an incredible sequence, and completely confirmed our belief that Prague is definitely a scam city.

By Meg Barnard, Assistant Producer, Scam City

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