Public Displays of Deception
Wikipedia describes pickpocketing as follows:
Picking pockets is a crime, a form of larceny which involves the stealing of money and valuables from the person of a victim without their noticing the theft at the time. It requires considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. Someone who picks pockets is known as a pickpocket. Pickpockets and other thieves, especially those working in teams, sometimes apply distraction, such as asking a question, bumping into the victim, or deliberately dirtying the victim's clothing and then "helping" him/her to clean it. The crime used to be punishable by death – even though public hangings were considered prime targets for pickpockets.
The "How Stuff Works" website adds these interesting details:
Pickpocketing is one of the oldest and most widespread crimes in the world. The appeal is its relative safety: A skilled pickpocket can make off with just as much money as an armed robber, without much danger of confrontation or risk of being identified in a line-up. By the time the victim even realizes what has happened, the pickpocket is long gone. And since no weapons are involved, pickpockets who do get caught face minimal jail time.
Today's Peninsula, Doha's leading English language daily, reports on a very unusual local take on this age old ruse:
A young Arab woman convicted by a criminal court to six months in jail for cheating and stealing cash from men, was acquitted by the court of appeals. The higher court ruled in a case filed by a man saying that she stole cash while they were in a lift in a building, that since she was veiled it was difficult for the plaintiff to recognize her.
Making herself hard to recognize wasn't the cleverer part of ruse, however. Rather, it was how she "bumped" her marks:
According to the charges filed against her, she would approach strangers and hug them and pick their pockets without her shocked victims realizing what struck them. It was only later that they came to know that their wallets were missing.
Shock is an understatement. This society expends tremendous energy in keeping unrelated members of the opposite sex apart, from even making inappropriate eye contact. And it also frowns heavily on public displays of affection, even between married couples. So, that an unknown woman- a veiled one no less- would walk up and hug a strange man in public is more than "shocking" to the hugee. It is positively scandalous. But it is also exceedingly audacious. Ballsy, even. And it seems she got away with it, with her public display of deception.