Pickpocket Thefts in Lisbon Rose Nearly 10% in the First Half, Concentrated Around Belém and São Jorge Castle

Reported pickpocketing in Lisbon rose by almost 10% in the first half of 2026, according to figures the capital's police command sent to the newspaper Diário de Notícias. Between January and June, the Polícia de Segurança Pública (Public Security Police, or PSP) logged 1,770 such thefts in the city — an average of roughly ten a day, and that counts only the crimes victims bothered to report.

The favourite hunting grounds, police say, are the busiest and most touristy corners of Lisbon: the riverside monuments of Belém and the streets around the Castelo de São Jorge (São Jorge Castle). Both draw dense, distracted crowds shuffling through narrow spaces with phones and wallets in easy reach — ideal conditions for a practised thief working a tram queue or a viewpoint.

A rising crime, and a national leader

The half-year jump extends a longer trend. Across the whole of 2025, the Comando Metropolitano de Lisboa (Lisbon Metropolitan Command, known as Cometlis) recorded 3,163 pickpocketing reports, about nine a day. The 2025 Relatório Anual de Segurança Interna (Annual Internal Security Report, or RASI) ranked pickpocketing among the eight fastest-growing categories of crime and named Lisbon the city with the most cases in the country.

The geography is lopsided. Roughly half of all pickpocketing nationwide — 46% — happened in the Lisbon district, followed by Porto with 26%, Faro with 7% and Setúbal with 5%. In other words, two districts account for nearly three-quarters of the country's reported cases, tracking closely with where the tourists are.

More thefts, fewer arrests

As the thefts climbed, the number of people caught fell. In the first six months of 2026, police detained 53 people for pickpocketing, 14 fewer than in the same period last year — a drop of 20.9%. Over the whole of 2025, the Lisbon command detained 102 people for the crime, of whom 16 were placed in pre-trial detention. The mismatch underlines how hard these fast, low-value street thefts are to police, and how rarely they end in a conviction.

What this means for residents and visitors

• Watch the classic hotspots. Tram 28, the metro at rush hour, Belém and the castle approaches are where thieves congregate. Keep bags zipped and closed in front of you, and phones out of back pockets.
• Report it anyway. Police concede many victims never file a report, which means the real figures are higher — and unreported thefts do not help build cases. A report is also usually required for travel-insurance and residence-card replacement claims.
• Do not expect quick recovery. With arrests falling and detentions rare, the practical defence is prevention, not the hope of getting a wallet back.

None of this makes Lisbon a dangerous city — violent street crime remains low by European standards, and pickpocketing is an opportunistic nuisance rather than a threat to safety. But as another record tourism season fills the trams and miradouros, the numbers are a reminder that the crowds drawing visitors to the capital are drawing the pickpockets too.