A pickpocket snatched a woman’s phone during a fit check — then realized she’s a triathlete the hard way

Pickpocketing can be extremely nerve-wracking, especially when most victims may be unable to catch hold of the thief. However, that wasn't the case for Elizabeth Lopez-Aguilar (@elizzabish). The American tourist who was vacationing in London for her 24th birthday with her boyfriend, Abraham Tahtouh, decided to film herself. However, things turned sour when a man in his 20s snatched her phone. But little did he know that he was messing up with a triathlete. Sharing the brave and adrenaline-filled story on TikTok, the young woman's video has made Americans proud of her act, as reported by People on January 24.

Elizabeth Lopez-Aguilar was celebrating her 24th birthday with her boyfriend, Abraham Tahtouh, in London when she decided to take a nighttime stroll. In the video posted by the woman, she set up her phone on a side of the footpath to capture her outfit when the unexpected happened. The video features someone snatching her phone and running, but the footage abruptly stops in the middle. Lopez-Aguilar told People that the Texas couple were taking a stroll at night when she decided to film her outfit and talk about where she got her coat from. However, she saw a man move past her to snatch her phone and run. But what he did not know was that Lopez-Aguilar was a triathlete who had six triathlons under her belt. She shared that she and her boyfriend, who is also an athlete and a cyclist, chased the man down and got back her phone. "I quickly followed to grab the assailant's arm and take the phone back," she revealed.

Luckily, the man was unarmed and did not fight back, which prompted the Texas couple to set him free. Having lost her phone before, she was not ready to lose it again. "Getting it back was a relief and rewarding, given we worked together to retrieve it," she noted. According to Quotezone's 2024 report, European countries have shown a huge surge in pickpocketing, especially in tourist hotspots. According to the survey, Italy was ranked the country with the highest rate of pickpocketing, with over 478 mentions per million visitors. France was followed with 251 cases per million visitors, notably in Paris.

Greg Wilson, the CEO of Quotezone, said, "Theft can happen anywhere, and tourist hotspots are convenient places for criminals to target holidaymakers' wallets and purses whilst they are busy taking in the sights." The pickpocket may have been aware that the Texas-based couple were tourists and decided to take that as an opportunity to rob her phone. However, Lopez-Aguilar was lucky to have encountered a non-violent thief; it would have been challenging for her and her boyfriend to escape from a life-threatening situation.

Lopez-Aguilar, who captioned the video, "When you get pickpocketed in London, but they don't know you run triathlons in the states," received massive appreciation from her U.S. audiences online. @MentallyillBarbie wrote, "I'm only American when other Americans show the world what our B team can do." @Stormi commented, "Like, do other countries not realize we don't have a big issue with this here because everyone is either armed or ready to throw down at any second." @Tony shared, "I'm a big dude at 6'1 250 lbs, I got my phone snatched while I was in London right outside of Big Ben, I don't think that dudes ever seen mass moving that fast ever in his entire life."

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