Man ends up making world’s first ‘pickpocket map’ after visiting London just once
When Artem Liholitov came to London for the first time over the summer, he ‘fell in love with the city’.
He spent the week visiting all the tourist hotspots, eating ‘delicious’ full English breakfasts and even proposed to his girlfriend.
After returning to Hamburg, with a new fiancée and love for English cuisine, the 33-year-old went on socials to see what Londoners were talking about.
‘And I was surprised to see so much was about pickpockets,’ he said.
After doing much more of a deep dive, he saw how much of the capital is littered with scammers and thieves.
Just one search on social media showed the ‘cup and ball’ game he walked past on Westminster Bridge was, in fact, a scam.
Up and down Oxford Street phone snatchers ride on e-bikes at full speed. Outside Buckingham Palace as the King’s Guard performs the Changing of the Guard, pickpockets wait to strike anyone with their bag open.
The creation of the map
After watching the videos online – and reading about the lack of arrests and low sentences handed out – he said to himself: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody could report pickpockets to locals and tourists.’
So he created pickpockets.live.
The map itself was not too difficult to make, what was more surprising for Artem was he was the first one to do it.
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Artem, who is a digital marketer, said: ‘I felt entirely safe while I was in London. In particular, I loved all the “See it, Say it, Sorted”.
Artem is passionate about wanting to help Londoners combat crime. He has refused to monetise it by making it ad free.
You also do not need to sign up or make an account of any kind, to make the process as smooth as possible.
Uploading people
According to London’s resident pickpocket hunter Diego Galdino, it is the same thieves who keep causing problems.
He told Metro: ‘They are a relatively small circle and they operate throughout Europe.
‘I know them by their first names, they know me by mine.’
Of course, just because you see someone you suspect of stealing, doesn’t mean they have.
When uploading pictures, faces are automatically blurred, and no names are revealed.
But distinguishing items of clothing, such as baseball caps and jackets, are kept.
Artem said: ‘The goal is for people to check the map and keep clear of the people pictured.
‘And it could possibly help detectives if they are searching for hotspots and potential patterns.’
London's pickpocketing epidemic
Between March 2023 and 2024, the Metropolitan Police received more than 79,000 reports of pickpockets.
Some 28,155 were reported in Westminster, with one in seven people in the area having something – mainly mobile phones – stolen from them.
This marks a 712% increase in the area from three years ago, and is by far the highest rate of thefts across the capital.
Other areas are also seeing huge increases in reported incidents, including Kensington and Chelsea seeing a 426% rise on three years ago.
Lambeth has also increased by 280%, the City of London by 266% and Greenwich by 245%.
Are Londoners increasingly turning to vigilanteism?
‘Pickpocket’ accounts on TikTok and Instagram are on the rise across Europe. Amsterdam, Barcelona and Madrid all have their counterparts, with familiar faces seen across the different pages.
Londoners are turning to these pages more as it feels the fight against the capital’s thieves isn’t working.
But the Metropolitan Police previously said it’s best to report any suspicious behaviour to them.
They said: ‘We urge Londoners and tourists to stay alert in crowded places and report any suspicious behaviour or pickpockets to police.
‘This summer, the capital’s town centres and high streets will see an enhanced police presence as part of our work to build on reductions in theft, robbery and antisocial behaviour.
‘We’ll be targeting hotspot areas with both plain and uniformed patrols, building on the progress we’ve already made with a 15.6% reduction in theft from the person in the first six weeks of this financial year.’
A spokesperson for the Met said: ‘Tackling theft, including pickpocketing, remains a priority for the Met and the number of offences in London is down more than 25 per cent so far this year.
‘We have uniformed and plain-clothed officers deployed in hotspot areas to tackle prolific offenders — and we urge Londoners and tourists to stay alert in crowded spaces and report suspicious activity.’
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said robbery and theft had fallen all over the capital.
He told Metro: ‘London is a global destination, and with five million additional visitors expected over the peak tourism season this summer, officers will be carrying out visible patrols and plain clothes operations to ensure Londoners and tourists are safe and feel safe.
‘The Mayor’s £1.26billion investment in the Met has doubled the number of officers in the West End and there are an extra 90 officers in hotspot areas across the capital, tackling issues including pickpocketing and mobile phone theft.’
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