As Benidorm’s peak holiday season begins to ramp up, one expert on the area has issued a warning about the popular Spanish holiday resort’s less savoury inhabitants. Lucy, from the Benidorm Stuff YouTube channel, says that while the city is popular for its sun, sea and sangria, it’s also infested with “scallies” on the prowl for unwary tourists.

The local pickpockets have a variety of cunning techniques that are especially effective on holidaymakers. When you’re away from home your guard is more likely to be down, and you’re more likely to have a few drinks in Benidorm’s many bars. In sports bars, in particular, she says, you need to be wary of over-friendly strangers.

In what Lucy calls the “hugger-mugger” technique, criminals posing as fellow football supporters will pretend to celebrate with their victims by throwing a friendly arm around them – only to take the opportunity to relieve them of their wallet and other valuables.

“Thieves will be pretending to celebrate along with other fans,” Lucy says. “They'll often have a team shirt on to blend in and whilst everybody is bouncing up and down to celebrate a goal they'll be relieving you of your personal items without you even realising.”

She points out that most of us routinely carry smartphones that have huge amounts of personal data on them – in particular, banking apps.

Lucy stresses that you should always take extra care to secure your phone data – setting up a passsword-protected folder for sensitive apps and setting up two-factor authentication.

You should also, of course, keep your phone in a secure bag or pocket and not just sticking out of the back of your jeans.

One way that thieves try to access your phone, she says, is by pretending to be lost and asking your for directions: “They’ll ask you if you can have a look on Google Maps for them.

“You take your phone out, unlock it, and open the maps app – then they whip the phone out of your hands and run off.”

Not only do they now have your unlocked phone in their hands, Lucy says, they could well also have memorised the code you typed in to unlock it.

Most recent figures show a sharp increase in Benidorm’s crime rate, with the number of criminal offences for the first half of 2022 reaching 43,438 compared to 34,857 in the same period in the previous year.

Lucy warns: “Be extra vigilant in busy bars, around markets and high streets – anywhere where there's lots of people there's bound to be a few scallies lurking and dipping pockets at the same time.”

Not only should you take care with your phone and wallet, she says, but you should think twice about wearing expensive watches or jewellery while you’re out and about. Especially, she warns, if you plan to drink any alcohol.

Solo travellers are particularly vulnerable, Lucy warns, with women pretending to be sex workers approaching tipsy males late at night and pretending to embrace them, only to make off with their wallets.

“Some will even take you around the corner to an isolated place and unbuckle your pants,” Lucy says explaining that with your trousers around your ankles you’re less able to give chase.

Even in embarrassing situations like that, she says, it’s important to make a report to the police: “It's not likely you'll get your stuff back,” Lucy says, “but every single report that's filed puts pressure on the powers that be to tackle the problem – there are so many thefts that still go unreported here.”