French pickpockets target Chinese tourists

Paris, the most visited city in the world by many counts, has been suffering a spate of pickpocketing - and one of its main targets appears to be that relatively new group of tourists, the Chinese.

Paris police say petty crimes against Chinese nationals have jumped 22 percent in the city this year.

Chinese visitors are thought to be particularly tempting for pickpockets because of their cultural preference for carrying cash over credit cards, the South China Morning Post reported.

Outraged visitors to Paris - as well as Parisians themselves - have posted warnings against the pickpocketing epidemic on Twitter.

"The annual August exodus from Paris has begun, the 7th arrondissement is deserted, only beggars, pickpockets ... and tourists [remain]," reads one post.

Tourists from China not only often trust cash over cards but also, along with Russians, are among the biggest spenders in Paris - and they often spend indiscreetly.

"I, and many people I know, have often been approached by the Asian tourists thronging outside the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysées, who approach you with cash to buy bags for them, as the store limits each customer to two," Paul Roll, director of the Office du Tourisme de Paris, told the Telegraph.

Parisian businesses are worried the risk of theft might drive Chinese travelers elsewhere.

The number of visitors from China to Paris last year, 1.4 million, was 23 percent up from 2011, the SCMP reports.

The city is a favorite destination among wealthy Chinese.

But a group of luxury retailers, including Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes, recently warned that top spenders would visit London or Milan instead, if Paris came to seem too risky.

French officials have acknowledged the pickpocketing surge, putting 200 extra police on patrol around top tourist attractions and publishing a "Guide to Staying Safe in Paris" in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish - one of several such guides acknowledging the extent of the problem.

The Paris police advice goes little beyond the need to be vigilant, but it does warn against carrying a backpack, which can easily be pilfered because it's usually out of direct view.