This is their modus operandi: they blend in with visitors, both on the streets and in hotel lobbies, then they will stealthily pick from pockets, swipe valuables and steal luggage.
Paris, France, is moving further away from its reputation as the City of Love these days. Tony Mariet, the commissioner of Paris’ anti-scam police unit, recently warned tourists of the city’s infamous ‘hotel rats’, a gang of petty thieves that target tourists.
This is their modus operandi: they blend in with visitors, both on the streets and in hotel lobbies, then they will stealthily pick from pockets, swipe valuables and steal luggage. “Some of them mingle with groups of tourists and leave with their luggage and others book rooms in hotels under false names and tour the rooms looking for safes,” the commissioner said in a report on The Telegraph. This trend is not limited to low- to mid-end hotels, either. Even the most prestigious hotels are at risk, since these ‘hotel rats’ are well aware that high-end hotels attract high-end clienteles.
The area surrounding the Champs Elysées and nearby shopping district have been marked as high-risk neighbourhoods. In November 2017, for example, 40 Chinese tourists were reportedly attacked with tear gas and robbed in the parking lot of the Kyriad Hotel in the Val-de-Marne suburb of the city by a gang of six men.
To deal with the issue,an additional 5,000 police officers will be deployed in Paris until the end of September 2018 at seven key sites across the city, including Montmartre, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.