Author Charles Dickens' Artful Dodger is probably amoung the best known pickpockets. The skilled pickpocket is not the seedy character you'd expect to find lurking in a dark doorway.
Pickpockets follow no regular schedule.
They operate equally well during the daylight hours as well as at night. And if you have been led to believe that picking pockets takes place only in crowds, forget it. The only known fact is that they generally focus on the public during times when they might be carrying more money than usual, such as during pre-holiday spending sprees, store sales, at fairs, carnivals, horse races, gambling casinos, near bank entrances, etc. While many pickpockets work alone, there are also teams of two or three which sometimes involve a female accomplice. A team with nimble fingers is next to impossible to apprehend.