A new global ranking of pickpocket and scam hotspots has confirmed what many seasoned travelers have long suspected. Some of the most iconic, bucket list destinations on earth are also where visitors are most likely to have their belongings, and their vacation, stolen out from under them. The results might not be the cities most people would guess.
The study, compiled by the travel insurance team at Compare the Market, ranked more than 75 global cities by combining resident and visitor concern about street crime with the rate of theft related keywords such as “pickpocket,” “stolen,” and “robbed” appearing in reviews of each city’s top attractions. The rankings were based on the number of pickpocket and scammer mentions per 1,000 visitor reviews for the most popular tourist spots in each city, combined with general traveler concerns about being mugged or robbed.
Bangkok Tops the List, and It Is Not Close
Bangkok holds the top spot as the worst city for tourism crime, with five of its biggest attractions flagged as scam and pickpocket hotspots, the most of any city studied. The Thai capital’s combined theft and scam mentions reached the highest rate of any city on the list.
Oddly enough, visitor sentiment around being robbed in Bangkok remains surprisingly low, suggesting many tourists have no idea just how exposed they really are until it happens to them.
The City of Love Has a Much Darker Side
Paris, long romanticized as a dream destination for couples celebrating anniversaries and milestone birthdays, landed in second place. The city’s combined scam and pickpocket mentions were the second highest of any destination studied.
Criminals working the Parisian crowds tend to favor old fashioned pickpocketing over elaborate scams, with theft mentions nearly double the rate of scam mentions. Travelers wandering Montmartre or lingering near the Sacre-Coeur with a camera in hand are, according to the data, exactly the kind of target local thieves are hoping to find.
A Beautiful Old European Capital Where Wallets Vanish Without Warning
Prague rounded out the top three. The city posted a substantial pickpocketing rate and one of the highest combined crime mention totals in the entire study. It actually topped every other city studied for pickpocket mentions specifically, even though scam reports there remain rare.
Anyone strolling across the Charles Bridge or admiring the Astronomical Clock in a packed crowd should know they are standing in what the data suggests is the pickpocketing capital of Europe.
Rounding Out the Top Five
Shanghai placed fourth, with a mixed pattern of both scams and pickpocketing troubling visitors to landmarks like Nanjing Road and Yu Garden.
Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, placed fifth. Despite having a lower overall theft rate than the rest of the top five, the study still found enough incidents around India’s most famous monument to warrant real caution.
The Single Riskiest Attraction on Earth
Beyond ranking entire cities, researchers also drilled down into individual landmarks. Bangkok’s Grand Palace emerged as the single most theft plagued attraction anywhere in the study, followed by the Sacre-Coeur in Paris, Nanjing Road in Shanghai, Bui Vien Street in Ho Chi Minh City, and Chandni Chowk market in New Delhi.
Even travelers heading somewhere far less glamorous are not entirely safe. Frankfurt’s main train station made the top 50 attractions worldwide for theft mentions, proving petty crime is not limited to postcard perfect landmarks.
Europe and Asia Are Where the Danger Concentrates
Of the more than 65 cities examined, 24 were located in Asia and 27 in Europe, together accounting for more than half the entire list. Only six American cities appeared, and neither Sydney nor Melbourne had any attractions flagged as hotspots.
For American travelers planning a European or Asian itinerary this year, that is not a small detail. It means the destinations most likely to appear on a bucket list are, statistically, also the destinations where a moment of distraction can end in a stolen passport, an empty wallet, or worse.
How to Avoid Becoming Part of Next Year’s Statistics
A few simple habits make a real difference for travelers, particularly those exploring unfamiliar cities alone or in pairs.
Always let someone know the day’s plans, whether that is a family member back home or the front desk of a hotel. Choose accommodation with secure storage rather than the cheapest option available. Stay alert in crowds instead of buried in a phone screen, since a moment spent chasing the perfect photo is exactly the moment a thief is waiting for. Avoid flashing expensive jewelry, watches, or large amounts of cash, since dressing to blend in makes a far less appealing target. And if a situation or a persistent stranger feels off, it is always better to walk toward a busy, well lit area than to wait and see what happens next.
Travel insurance that covers theft, lost documents, and stolen cash is also worth reviewing carefully before departure, since a stolen passport abroad can quickly turn a dream trip into a logistical nightmare.
Sourcing note: This article is based on data compiled by Compare the Market’s travel insurance team, published October 2025. The study combined Numbeo crime and safety concern indices with a sample of theft related keyword mentions across the top 10 TripAdvisor attractions in each of more than 75 global cities, weighting the review mention rate at 75 percent and the Numbeo worry metric at 25 percent to produce each city’s final score.
Amanda O’Brien is the creator and editor of The Boutique Adventurer. She has visited 80 countries and is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers as well as the IFTWTA. She is passionate about wine had has just completed Level 3 of the WSET. Born in Australia, she lives in London.