Couple realize they been robbed only on seeing photograph post the holiday trip to Thailand

Chiang Mai, September 28: A couple on holiday in Thailand got a nasty surprise when they flicked through their pictures after a visit to a temple in Chiang Mai.  They realised they had been robbed after one of the snaps appeared to show a child stealing the woman’s watch.

The Telegraph which reported the incident quoted the man,  who posted the image to Reddit, saying: “Girlfriend in the progress of getting her watch stolen”.

Not noticing the child slipping the watch off her wrist, the woman smiled for a photograph at a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand, as her partner captured the image.

The man wrote under the photograph: “This pic solved the mystery of the missing watch”.

People on Reddit were shocked by the age of the thieves.

One person wrote: “Adorable, adorable thieves. I didn’t suspect a thing when I saw them.”

Others on the thread said they had seen those children on their own travels to Chiang Mai.

One said they must be the “two most popular child thieves in all of Asia”, while another commented he dodged a bullet by not getting his photograph taken with them.

People commented on their clever technique – how the children touched the woman in several places so she did not notice the watch being taken.

Someone commenting on the thread said: “Notice how the thief is touching her hand in several places? It’s a pickpocket technique so that the mark gets accustomed to being touched by the thief and stops registering all of the touches.”

Another wrote: “There are a number of factors that affect the success of a pickpocket. One is a good distraction. The two girls holding her hands will keep her from noticing what is going on.

“The other is that the body tends to recognize the stronger of two forces directed against it. You can demonstrate by hitting your thighs with something small in one hand (matchstick) and with your fist. You will typically, only acknowledge the heavier blow (fist).

“In this case the force of the girl holding her hand/arm far outweighs the force required to unbuckle the watch.”