The woman who went viral for yelling 'Attenzione, Pickpocket!' says a group of girls once fought her and left her in a neck brace for weeks

• TikTok's "Attenzione, Pickpocket!" woman said she was once attacked after calling out pickpockets.
• She said the altercation with four girls left her in a neck brace for 20 days.

The Venetian woman who has gone viral on TikTok for screaming "Attenzione, Pickpocket!" on the streets of her home city told the New York Times that one time her efforts to protect tourists sparked a fight that left her in a neck brace.

Monica Poli has been fighting the pickpockets of Venice for at least 30 years, when she said her group — the oldest in Italy — caught their first pickpocket.

Since, she's perfected her craft and become an international phenomenon. Poli's shouts on the streets have gone viral on TikTok, with her videos viewed millions of times. The sound of her shouts warning tourists about pickpockets has been shared around the site and even been remixed into a dance track.

She told the Times she's not concerned about calling out people who aren't actually pickpockets because "I have something inside me and I recognize immediately."

But her job isn't always easy and her missions aren't always successful.

Poli told the Times that five years ago, a group of girls who were pickpocketing attacked her in the streets.

"Four girls fought me, and people stopped to see the scene. I was alone," Poli recalled to the Times, adding that "people stopped to see the action and never helped."

"It was terrible. I had a neck collar for 20 days," Poli remembered of the altercation.

But instances such as this won't stop Poli from doing her duty.

"It doesn't matter. I will continue to do this work," Poli said, according to the Times.

Poli said that after decades of work, the pickpocketers have begun to recognize her.

"The men, they affront me with the middle finger. They take pictures of me," Poli told the Times. "The girls, they run away. I think they think I'm crazy, maybe?"