A Mime Jr's mimicry is so spellbinding that it is all but impossible for anyone to avert their eyes without lengthy training, and this ability has made them a beloved pokemon among pickpockets. It is a common scam for Mime Jr. to host 'free' street performances while their trainers move stealthily through the audience, robbing the unlucky onlookers of everything from spare change to pokeballs.
Pokemon are slightly more immune to this trick than humans, and often leave their pokeballs before any Mime Jr. show because they hear the movements of pickpockets and fear being stolen. Yet they too are often enraptured by the performance once it begins, and many find themselves sans their held items before it ends. They will, however, notice the lack of any item at all, so it is common for Mime Jr and their allies to replace them with items they will find a hindrance. It is, after all, quite difficult to catch a thief while carrying an Iron Ball, and few pokemon are capable of letting go of their own item in a situation nearly as chaotic as a pokemon battle.
The Mime Jr. who participate in this scam are rarely endangered even by police, for they can easily surround themselves in invisible walls in the manner of a full-grown Mr. Mime, but the same can not be said of their thieving trainers. The risk for pickpockets, who must move within the crowd, comes from the police department, but not from the human officers; it is police pokemon such as Growlithe and Snubbull who can capture them. The senses of hearing and smell in these pokemon are remarkably strong, and Mime Jr are powerless to stop them, for their performance only seals the eyes of onlookers.
