Does This Photo Show Young Pickpocket in Action?

Reddit thinks yes, parents say no
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2016 8:14 AM CDT
Does This Photo Show Young Pickpocket in Action?
Anyone got the time? The photo of the alleged watch theft in progress.   (Reddit)

An interesting post on Reddit is drawing attention as either a warning to tourists or warning about jumping to conclusions. As the Telegraph recounts, the story goes like this: A man and his girlfriend got back from a trip to Thailand and couldn't figure out what happened to the woman's watch. Then they started looking at photos from the trip, and one shows a young Thai girl in ceremonial garb who appears to be fiddling with the watch at the precise moment the photo was taken. "This pic solved the mystery of the missing watch," writes the unidentified poster, who thinks he snapped an image of a pickpocket in action. The post generated so much attention that police in Thailand brought in the two pictured girls for questioning with their parents, and the parents adamantly deny the allegation, notes a post at Khaosod English.

“The parents of the kids are very concerned and said they would have filed a complaint against the false accusation were the (foreign couple) still here in Thailand," says a police official. The mother says her girls pose for tourists and never beg for money, and finds it incredulous that people think her daughter, 7, could steal a watch unnoticed. But Reddit commenters had an answer for that. "Notice how the thief is touching her hand in several places?" writes one. "It's a pickpocket technique so that the mark gets accustomed to being touched by the thief and stops registering all of the touches." For the record, the photo was snapped on steps leading to a temple called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai province, notes the Sun. The man who posted the photo said it was a cheap watch and not a big deal. "We were a bit drunk, and those girls are absolute pros." (Watch your valuables at the Eiffel Tower, too.)

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