American tourist in Venice latches on to pickpocket’s ponytail—and doesn’t ungrip til the police come

A woman shares the moment her mother snatched the ponytail of an alleged pickpocket in Venice, Italy, as she waits for police to arrive. Social media users praise her for her bold move.

Why did the American tourist grab the pickpocket’s hair?

In a video with over two million views, TikToker Karis (@karismcelroy) shares a screenshot of a text from her mother.

The text reads, “When we were looking for our hotel, my purse was stolen out of my zipped-up book bag. We have spent the afternoon dealing with this. Fortunately, someone found it and turned it in to the US liaison at the airport.”

In the next clip, she shows a picture of her mom holding the alleged pickpocket by her ponytail.

“You stole my purse with my passport in it,” she yells at the pickpocket. On-screen text explains that her mother held the pickpocket by the hair until the police arrived.

In a follow-up video, Karis explains that her mother noticed that three girls tried to slow her down as they approached their Airbnb. When she noticed that her purse was missing, she was able to track it with the AirPods she had placed inside before the trip.

Her mother finds the girls and sees them with her purse, prompting her to grab the youngest by the ponytail. One of the girls runs off. When the police arrived, the two remaining girls began “kicking and fighting” to get away.

@karismcelroy Venice pickpocketers picked the wrong mom to mess with 😂😭 #jet2holiday #foryoupage #pickpocketing #venice ♬ original sound – NYES | Fashion

She says the girls were arrested after one of them hit her mom with a metal water bottle, which had also been stolen from her.

The third girl, who had her mother’s purse, returned it to the US liaison at the airport. The passport was still in the bag, but her AirPods and $200 in cash were missing.

This isn’t the first time someone has gone viral for publicly shaming pickpockets. In 2023, a woman went viral for shouting “Attenzione pickpocket!” to call attention to pickpockets in popular tourist areas. The sound later went viral on TikTok.

What do viewers think of her retaliation against the pickpocket?

TikToker Manny Buckley (@mannybuckley) believes the woman’s relentless pursuit of her stolen purse will discourage other pickpockets from targeting other American tourists.

“We all have gone through too much. We work too hard. And you think you’re just going to walk up and take from us?” he says. “Do you have any idea what goes on around [America]?”

@mannybuckley
How is pickpocketing still happening in Europe like it’s the 1880’s!?
♬ original sound – 𝕄𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕪 𝔹𝕦𝕔𝕜𝕝𝕖𝕪

In the comments, other viewers hope American tourists will now have a reputation that discourages other pickpockets.

“Oh, hey, finally an American stereotype out of Europe I can support,” one writes.

“Listen, the grand majority of us are like one bad paycheck away from financial ruin, unless you have a pew pew pointing at me, I’m gonna get my stuff back,” another says.

“I think we’re like this bc we’re constantly getting scammed by all of our institutions, so when someone does it in your face, it unleashes all the rage built up from years of car insurance and telemarketers,” a third suggests.

“Never felt more proud of an American than watching them deal with European pickpockets,” a fourth adds.

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