"This Person Is a Pickpocket"... Paris Teenagers' Unique Street Performance

Following Pickpockets and Reporting... Popular on SNS
"Doing Police Work" vs "People's Court" Debate Heats Up

The way Parisian teenagers warn about pickpockets is becoming a hot topic on social networking services (SNS).

[Image source=Pixabay]

On the 20th (local time), the French daily Le Parisien reported that pickpocket warning videos, which started last summer in Venice, Italy, are gradually spreading in Paris as well. A pickpocket warning video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on the 17th recorded 4,300 views and attracted great attention.

In the video, the teenagers surround a woman holding a sign that says "Pickpocket" and handing out surveys to tourists. The woman walks away looking discouraged, and her "companion" nearby also leaves the scene. But it doesn't end there. The teenagers persistently follow the two pickpockets until they leave the street and settle inside the subway, shouting to people, "Beware, there are pickpockets here." It appears their purpose is to film while following the pickpockets and inform people nearby of their presence to prevent harm.

A video following a pickpocket and alerting people about the pickpocket is becoming a hot topic on social networking services (SNS) in France, following Italy. [Image source=TikTok capture]

Alex (a pseudonym), who produced the pickpocket videos in Paris, said, "You can quickly tell there are many positive reactions both online and offline," and added, "I think it’s useful because it raises awareness among tourists." Alex, who is 16 this year, and his friends have posted about 15 pickpocket warning videos on SNS so far. Although such videos are blocked on online platforms as 'harassment' or 'threatening' content, they said they have no intention of stopping content creation.

Alex said, "We are proud of this work because we are helping people," and added, "Sometimes we follow pickpockets for over an hour to corner them, but they deserve the consequences." He warned, "The places pickpockets mainly target are Trocad?ro Square, the Louvre Museum, and Pont des Arts," and explained, "Female pickpockets use the method of handing out petitions to distract tourists’ attention and then steal from their pockets, while males mainly use trick games." Alex also mentioned that some videos accumulated over 1.6 million views before being removed by the platform. He said some videos exceed 50,000 views within an hour.

Netizens who watched the pickpocket catching videos generally support the teenagers, saying, "Ordinary citizens are doing what the police or the city of Paris should do." However, some criticize that exposing pickpockets’ faces on SNS without their consent may constitute a violation of portrait rights and defamation. There are also comments pointing out the trend of this type of content becoming popular. One netizen described this behavior as "the beginning of a people's court."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.