However, an increase in robberies and other street crimes has prompted us to issue this personal security notice. The simplest and most effective precaution against theft is to leave your passport and valuables in a hotel safe or other secure place while enjoying the city.
Purses are snatched form pedestrians, cyclist and even vehicles.
Purse snatchers usually grab purses or wallets and run away, often to a waiting motorcycle driven by an accomplice. Another scenario involves a passenger on a passing motorcycle grabbing tourists purses. Occasionally, thieves seek refuge in crowded narrow streets. Thieves have also been known to open doors or break windows of a stopped cars in order to grab purses or other packages, sometimes even taking them from under the seats. The most popular scam carried out against Americans in Barcelona involves a pair of thieves.