Yes, Gypsy pickpockets are everywhere in Europe.

But crime impacting visitors in Spain seems to involve much more than ordinary pickpocketing.  We saw a roomful of people in the big waiting room in the US consulate in Barcelona.  The reason they were there was the same, they all had their travel documents stolen.  But the ways they lost the documents were different from one another.  Some had their unattended bags stolen.  Others had their bags snatched by robbers on motorcycles.  Many more fell victim to a special kind of highway robbery.  In this scheme, the thieves would place themselves in highway rest areas.  When they see tourists pull in, they slash tires on the tourists' cars when the tourists are using the facilities.  They then pretend to help change the tires to distract the tourists while their fellow gang members steal contents from the cars.  Or they pass toursts driving on highway and beckon at them to falsely indicate there is something wrong with the tourists' vehicle.  Once the tourists stop to examine their car, the thieves stop nearby and pull the same tricks.