Britons in Benidorm have been issued an urgent warning to avoid a group in the city known as pea men who have been alleged to steal from unsuspecting tourists.
The warning was issued by YouTube channel Benidorm Stuff in a video about the dangers of pickpockets and the methods they use to steal expensive belongings, such as phones and wallets from punters in the city.
Among these methods, the presenter explained, is the use of a group of people called “pea men” who are used to draw people into a game they’re playing on the street.
Whilst engaged and distracted by the game, potential victims of pickpocketing are then targeted or scanned for potential belongings which can be stolen by pickpockets embedded in the crowd or elsewhere.
The presenter cautioned: “Thieves will distract your attention to something else so you’re concentrating on that and often oblivious to anything else going on. This is a tactic used by the pea men.
“We’ve done loads of videos warning people of the scam game the pea men play where they get you to gamble on a game that you’re never going to win. But they also have a team of pickpockets who appear to be standing around watching or even participating in the game.
“These are actually most of the time dipping pockets or perhaps slipping your watch off whilst you focus on the pea men and their game, or they’ll be scanning the crowd to see which people have phones, wallets, jewellery etc on them and whereabouts on their person they’re being kept.
“They’ll get a message to other gang members up the road of potential targets they’ll know exactly which pockets or bags pick from when you walk off up the street. They may use another distraction technique to carry out this part, you might walk past somebody or walk into somebody, a brief bump or a brush of shoulders and that’s all it takes.
“These scallies are so quick and so good at what they do, in literally a split second they can have your stuff off you without you feeling a thing.”
This YouTuber is not the first to warn about the dangers of the pea men, as the Benidorm Seriously website also warns potential visitors to the Spanish city about the traps lying in wait for the unsuspecting.
They caution: “DO NOT stop, as enticing as it seems with all the cheering and clapping. The majority of so-called spectators are actually members of the gang trying to lure you to stop and take part.
“It works like this…A guy will shuffle three shells/potatoes, one of which has a pea or a pebble under it, he will take bets from the crowd…and they will win.
“He will make it easy to guess where the pea is – when YOUR money is not involved. But as soon as you put your money down – he will win easily – he will take your money EVERY TIME! These men are expert hustlers and you cannot beat them.”
