Thank you for your timely comments.  There are indeed many scammers around just as there many “illegals” who cross the border every day to pick pockets and handbags on public transport, in shops,  cafés, wherever.  Geneva is a frontier town with all the pros and cons that brings.

My advice to newcomers is to carry photocopies of documents such as a passport, etc., and leave the originals at home unless you have a specific need on a given day when the presentation of the original is absolutely essential.

Also don’t have a bulging expensive-looking wallet or purse and try to look as though you know where you are going.

If you do need to ask for directions go into a shop if you can rather than ask a passer-by.  That’s not to say that everyone is a potential

thief but your conversation could be overheard and you could be followed by someone who is.

Also, speaking French like a native won’t necessarily protect you.  A young friend, newly arrived from a city in Haute-Savoie,

had her phone and credit card “lifted” from her handbag on the No. 12 tram last week.  She reported the theft right away and now has replacements but the experience was still a shock that she could have done without.

All that said, Geneva can be a great place once you’ve settled in,. so best wishes, R.

Very good points Ritchie. I made the mistake when I first got to Genève of thinking that its wealth and modernity means it's crime-free.

Then an expert thief took an iPad from my car in Carouge. I recently discovered it was probably located thanks to a recent trend of car thieves apparently using Bluetooth scanners to find devices inside cars, from the outside. It might just be an urban myth, but knowing what I know about tech, it makes a lot of sense!

So yeah, beware, stay safe and enjoy this lovely part of the world!

There is a few peole in London who do this in Geneva, one person said a 4 peice apartment furnished was 800 CHF per months and to deposit an amount to a bank in the Ukraine and he would post the keys over. Mind you i did have some fun replying with that, but be careful everyone.