As for a polish man person you ought to know better than any other person in the world that this happens erryday. Although the thief must have enough points in STR or CHA high enough to come in party of three or more. They don't sneak, they don't hide. They demand your gold polesman.
Listen up kids! Few towns will have the thieves guilds. Once you join the guild and are in town, a kid might walk past you and tell you the name of a player and the item he is carrying. Like 'Some say that Skejwen is in town and has this shiny little Desert Eagle of his. Boss would LOVE to have it.' he whispers and then walks away. Now you need to somehow talk with the player to distract his attention and then steal the item. Only this one. When you bring it to the boss or one of his agents you get a little exp and some caps. This absolutely need NO STEALING ANIMATION. And is awesome, right? If the person leaves the town, the quest is available for like 15 more minutes or you can abort it yourself.
Listen up kids! Few towns will have the thieves guilds. Once you join the guild and are in town, a kid might walk past you and tell you the name of a player and the item he is carrying. Like 'Some say that Skejwen is in town and has this shiny little Desert Eagle of his. Boss would LOVE to have it.' he whispers and then walks away. Now you need to somehow talk with the player to distract his attention and then steal the item. Only this one. When you bring it to the boss or one of his agents you get a little exp and some caps. This absolutely need NO STEALING ANIMATION. And is awesome, right? If the person leaves the town, the quest is available for like 15 more minutes or you can abort it yourself.Now the second thing so that noone actually knows you are a thief the thieves npcs would disguise them somehow so that only guild members will know who is who - you might speak with the trader and he is a member of the guild for this moment, those npcs would be highlighted somehow. We can also have some kind of accusation system like in Mafia game. If one is flagged as thief and people tell the cops that he is a thief he will be banned from town for an hour or so. If he isn't the accusers are banned. The thief may return after the hour but will he risk another hour of ban?