Known as the City of Love, hordes of tourists head there for weekend getaways to take in the iconic sights.
But, despite the romantic scenes and good food, it is also the city where you’re most likely to fall victim to pickpockets.
Paris accounts for a whopping 16.5 per cent of all theft-related reviews from the last year, as revealed in a new study.
The research looked into over 13,000 Google reviews – looking specifically for words including pickpocket, robbery and fraud – to discover which cities leave visitors feeling safe, and the ones that could be risky.
Areas that are typically popular with tourists, including the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre, are hotspots for opportunistic theft.
There are a range of common scams to look out for in Paris, such as the ‘friendship bracelet’ trick.
This involves a bracelet being tied around your wrist as an act of friendship and the maker then goes on to demand payment.
Other scams include fake charity or petition tricksters who seek out donations from tourists for an organisation that in reality does not exist.
Paris accounts for a whopping 16.5 per cent of all theft-related reviews analysed in the past year by Radical Storage
Areas that are typically popular with tourists, including the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre, are hotspots for opportunistic theft
Distraction techniques are also common, such as the ‘dropped ring’ trick, where someone may claim you have dropped an item that they want to return to you and demand payment.
Female solo traveller Sarah Lim recently revealed Paris was one of the five cities in which she felt most unsafe and said the French capital was rife with petty crime like bag-snatching and pickpocketing.
Pickpocketing proved to be the most common type of theft in Paris, accounting for 29.8 per cent of review mentions in the research, conducted by Radical Storage.
The city also ranked highest for the words, ‘scam’, ‘con’, ‘theft’, ‘mugged’ and ‘stolen’.
Rome ranked second in the list, making up 10.7 per cent of theft-related reviews.
It might not be surprising, however, as the Italian capital saw a 68 per cent increase in pickpocketing crimes from 2019 to 2024.
Meanwhile, Barcelona placed third, with 5.3 per cent of theft-related reviews.
Bangkok ranked fourth, followed by Orlando and Istanbul in joint fifth place, and New York City in seventh.
Rome ranked second, making up 10.7 per cent of theft-related reviews. It might not be surprising, however, as the Italian capital saw a 68 per cent increase in pickpocketing crimes from 2019 to 2024
Meanwhile, Barcelona placed third with 5.3 per cent of theft-related reviews
Orlando was dubbed the ‘robbery capital’ due to a whopping 12.5 per cent of its reviews about tourism theft including the word ‘robbed’.
Milan placed eighth, accounting for only 3 per cent of theft-related reviews.
Elsewhere, Las Vegas ranked ninth and Delhi placed tenth.
Surprisingly, despite London often making headlines for its pickpocketing and crime, the capital didn’t make it into the top 10.