Memes About American Tourists Fighting European Pickpockets Are All Over The Internet

About

American Tourists Fighting European Pickpockets refers to memes and jokes about American tourists and their supposedly combative approach to dealing with pickpockets in major European cities. The United States State Department warned American tourists traveling to France for the 2024 Olympics about the prevalence of petty crimes such as pickpocketing in the city of Paris. Stories about American tourists taking additional and sometimes extreme measures to secure their belongings began making the rounds in 2024, including unverified anecdotes about Americans carrying booby-trapped wallets, exploding iPhones and cameras, and handcuffing thieves to light poles. In August 2025, a viral video of an American mother of 8 holding a young woman by the ponytail and demanding the return of her passport prompted renewed memes and jokes about Americans fighting European pickpockets. These jokes often revolved around Americans valuing notions of private ownership and prioritising their rare vacation time. Jokes about Americans fighting pickpockets are related to the Attenzione Pickpocket sound effect that went viral in 2023.

Origin

Pickpocketing is a petty crime known to thrive in tourist-heavy European cities, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, with a Telegraph article from 2025 noting that Italy topped the list with the most reported cases in 2024. According to the U.S Embassy in France, each year in Paris alone, about 2,000 Americans report their passports stolen or lost due to the work of pickpockets.

In 2024, the U.S. State Department also issued a Travel Advisory to tourists visiting France for the Olympics, warning them about the prevalence of petty crimes such as pickpocketing in the city of Paris. In addition to general safety precautions such as being mindful of one’s bags and belongings, the advisory warned tourists:

DON’T resist if you are mugged; you can get badly hurt. If you catch a pickpocket in the act,
DON’T go for him unless a police officer is nearby; some pickpockets carry knives.

In 2024, unverified reports of American tourists taking additional measures to secure their belongings and baiting pickpockets into injury during their travels to Paris began making the rounds online.

On August 6th, 2025, Robby Witt posted a TikTok claiming that a pickpocket in Paris was left fighting for his life at the hospital after being thrown down the stairs by an American man from Texas at an Olympic venue in Paris.

The video gathered over 7.8 million views and 700,000 likes in a year, and became the basis of subsequent unverified reports about American tourists attacking European pickpockets. Witt’s TikTok and YouTube bio read, “60 Second Sitcoms. Original Fictional Stories to make you laugh!”

Robby Witt also shared a number of other, seemingly fictional stories about American tourists baiting petty criminals in Paris, including stories about wallets booby-trapped with thumbtacks and razor blades, and exploding iPhones, gathering several hundred thousand views each.

Spread

TikToker Robby Witt @thesephew continued to play a notable role in propagating unconfirmed stories about Americans confronting Parisian pickpockets, as seen in an August 7th, 2024, video about an American tourist carrying wallets with an electric zapper and giving a pickpocket an irregular heartbeat. The post gathered over 300,000 likes in a year.

On August 17th, 2024, a writer named Toni Crowe posted an article on Medium repeating various unconfirmed rumors and stories about American tourists dealing with pickpockets, citing Robby Witt’s posts as her primary source.

The article became the basis for subsequent memes, AI overviews, and news reports about Americans supposedly accosting petty thieves in Europe, as seen in a July 18th, 2025, post by Instagram @rogueamericanapparel that gathered over 1,700 likes in a month.

American Mother of 8 Grabs “Pickpocket” By Her Ponytail

In August 2025, a video of an American tourist holding a young girl by her ponytail and demanding the return of her passport began making the rounds online. The video shows a blonde woman holding on to a young girl’s ponytail, responding to her screams with, “I have 8 kids, you’re not getting to me,” and demanding the return of her passport.

The video was originally posted by TikToker @karismcelroy on August 15th, 2025, who said that the woman in the video was her mother, and that she had apprehended the young girls she believed had stolen her passport and held them until the Italian police arrived. The video gathered over 3 million plays and 400,000 likes in two weeks.

The news prompted several TikTokers to post memes and jokes about how American tourists react to European pickpockets, as seen in an August 19th, 2025, video by TikToker @moonlitthorn showing the Hulk smashing Loki alongside a caption that read, “European after trying to pickpocket an American who is trying to enjoy their once in a lifetime trip they’ve been saving for 10 years for.” The post gathered over 1 million plays and 260,000 likes in ten days.

On August 26th, 2025, TikToker @zaynahbear posted a video showing her smacking the camera alongside a caption that read, “The last thing a European pickpocket sees after trying to rob an American.” The post gathered over 200,000 plays and 50,000 likes in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References