TL;DRCounting cash on the street or right at an ATM tells every pickpocket in a 30-meter radius that you have cash and where you keep it. Walk into a shop, café, or hotel lobby and count there.
Pickpockets and casual thieves don't randomly target tourists. They watch for signals — open wallets, bags hanging behind the body, phones held loosely, and especially cash being counted. The act of standing on a sidewalk with a stack of fresh notes, counting them and checking for accuracy, is the most efficient broadcast of "I have valuables on me" you can perform short of holding a sign.
The fix is trivial: never count cash outdoors. Take it from the ATM or the exchange, put it directly in your wallet without examining it, and walk somewhere indoor before recounting.
The full ATM playbook
- Pick the right ATM. Bank-branded ATMs inside or attached to a bank branch are safest. Standalone ATMs in tourist areas have the highest skimming and card-trap rates. ATMs inside hotels and convenience stores are middle-ground.
- Use the ATM during daylight, ideally when the attached bank is open.
- Check for skimmers — wiggle the card slot, look for unusual overlay devices on the keypad, and trust your gut if anything feels off.
- Shield the PIN keypad with your other hand.
- Decline DCC if offered ("pay in USD or local currency?" — always local).
- Take the cash, take the receipt, take the card — in that order. Don't fumble with all three in the open.
- Put the cash directly into your wallet without counting it. Walk away.
- Count and inspect inside — a café, your hotel, anywhere private.
Currency exchange specifics
Exchange counters at airports and tourist areas almost always offer worse rates than ATMs (because they're priced for travelers who don't shop around). When you do use one:
- Ask for the rate before handing over money.
- Confirm the amount of local currency they'll give you before they count it out.
- Count it once, calmly, inside the counter's enclosure — but quickly, and then put it away.
- Walk somewhere else before counting again.
What pickpockets actually look for
The classic pickpocket setup is two people working: one creates a distraction (bumping into you, dropping something near you, asking for directions), the other lifts a wallet from a back pocket or bag. Counting cash gives them a target priority. Mitigations:
- Wallet in your front pocket, never the back.
- Bag worn in front in crowded areas (metros, markets, festivals).
- Phone away when not actively using it; not in the back pocket.
- Daypack zippers facing your body, not the crowd.
Bottom line
Cash handling is one of those areas where 30 seconds of good habit eliminates the most common loss event in travel. Get the cash, put it away, walk inside, count it. The transaction takes 90 seconds and 100% of it happens out of public view.
