24 May 2017
As the name implies, the Pigeon Poop scam is common in places where there are lots of pigeons, especially Europe. It seems that places with lots of seagulls like Stockholm has similar version of this scam. We could probably call it the Seagull Poop scam.
Let me describe what happened to us in more detail.
My wife and I was enjoying our day out on Skeppsholmen island when we walked past a couple who seemed to be fellow travellers, with a map and pointing around at the sights while they looked at the map.
Out of a sudden, we were hit by poop from behind.
The poop were greenish, foul smelling, sticky. Some were on my lower body and some were on my wife’s back and head.
Damned gulls!
The couple quickly came to our aid with wet tissues. We spent about 5 minutes cleaning ourselves up with the tissues.
We thanked them for their help and decided that we should go back to our apartment to get a good shower we felt there was still residues of the stinking mess on our bodies.
It was later that I discovered that the “helpful” couple had helped themselves to the cash in my wallet! We had been scammed by what is called the “Pigeon Poop” scam".
Basically, how the scam works is that the thieves would spray some kind of liquid or “poop” onto your bodies as you walked pass them. They would pick their victims carefully, often in isolated areas where there are no other persons around. In our case, I guessed they had used some kind of water pistol, hidden under the map that they were holding, and used it to squirt the liquid on us as we walked past them.
Isolated area on Skeppsholmen with lots of seagulls. Ideal conditions for the “Seagull poop” scam.
They were very fast to come to our “aid”, with wet tissues to try help wipe us down. While doing so, one would distract us while the other would steal from our wallet or bag.
In our case, the woman scammer held my hand to point out the places with poop on my partner’s head and hair. Her job was to distract us and prevent me from looking at what her partner was doing.
She kept telling my wife to stay still while she cleaned the mess from her hair. On hindsight, what she was doing was preventing my wife from turning around to see what her partner was doing to me!
In the meantime, her partner was busy pretending to clean the poop on my pants, but was actually cleaning out my wallet!
They worked fast, and was very professional! They quickly say good bye and left once they had taken the money!
I did not realised the theft until later when I found the cash missing and I googled on Internet to confirm that such scams exist.
What was amazing was that they took only the cash, and put back the wallet back in the zipped pocket of my hiking pants. I was able to use my SL Access card, stored in my wallet, to take the train home without realising the theft.
I think we were not the only persons scammed that day. An elderly couple walked pass us shortly after, while we were still cleaning ourselves up (after the scammers left us). They told us they have been pooped upon too and even jokingly told us that today was our “lucky day”. There is a belief that if a bird poops on you, your car or your property, you may receive good luck and riches.
In a way, we had been quite “lucky” compared to other cases of such scams. Some had lost much more. There were cases where the scammers snatched the bags of victims and ran. Or stole the entire bag with cash, cards, mobile phones and all!
Thankfully, I did not loss any ID cards, credit cards, SL Access card, etc. I only lost some cash from my wallet. Small payment for an unforgettable experience and lesson learnt!
We were wondering why they never took the whole wallet.
My guess was that we were on Skeppsholmen island and there was only a single entry and exit point from the island, the Skeppsholmen Bridge. If I were to discover the theft immediately, I could have stopped them from escaping at the bridge. Also, by taking only the cash, it would be impossible for me to prove their crime.
I knew that Europe is not a very safe place for travellers but I would never have imagined that such things could happen to us and happened in Stockholm too.
It is easy to fall for such scams since the scammers are very professional. They made use of the fact that most people would be distracted by poop sprayed on your bodies or drinks deliberately spilled on you. It is also human nature to not reject someone “kind enough” to provide assistance to persons in distress. They would use this to get close to you or even touch you so as to pick your pockets or steal from your bag.
So be warned, fellow travellers!
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