Phantom Thief

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The Phantom Thief is a special class of criminal. An elusive and fantastic thief who can be long gone before the victim even knows what hit him. Just as likely to be an antihero as a villain.

There is no single set model of the Phantom Thief, but they usually have some of the following characteristics.

Steals fine art and valuable gems.
Leaves a Calling Card to the intended victim.
Is a Master of Disguise.
Uses trickery and illusions to escape undetected.
Has a rival in the form of a Great Detective or a stubborn police inspector.
Has a strict code of honor, refusing to commit murder.
Steals as a form of vigilante justice.
May or may not actually break the laws of physics to achieve their goal.
An Escape Artist who is hard to catch and even harder to hold.

Particularly common in Japanese media, stemming from the popularity of Arsène Lupin in Japan. The Japanese word for it is Kaitou.

Compare Gentleman Thief and Classy Cat Burglar. If part of their motivation is the thrill of stealing then they are also The Kleptomaniac. See also Loveable Rogue, Anti-Hero.

Examples of Phantom Thief include:

Advertising

McDonalds' Hamburglar.

Anime and Manga

Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon.
- Kaitou Ace from Codename: Sailor V
Lupin The 3rd.
In Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, Freyr (in his first episode).
Maron/"Jeanne" from Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.
Saint Tail from Kaitou Saint Tail.
The Man of Twenty Faces from CLAMP School Detectives (and his own manga; note that the manga was inspired by a Gentleman Thief by the same name from earlier books, movies, and television).
More obviously (and recently) Dark, from D.N.Angel, although he steals cursed items to get them uncursed.
Psiren of Fullmetal Alchemist. The people of her city don't really want her caught - it's an Expy of Venice and will soon slide underwater, so she's the only thing keeping people coming.
Kaitou Kid (literally known as the Phantom Thief Kid) from Detective Conan and Magic Kaito has this in spades.
In the Boys Love manga Gorgeous Carat, main character Ray is also known as Phantom Thief Noir.
Shadow Lady
X in Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. Unfortunately, those aren't his only crimes...
Phantom Renegade of Medabots steals rare medals in order to keep them out of the wrong hands. He would actually do a pretty good job, if he didn't clumsily lose them right after gloating over his successful heist.
Robas from Kiba, who becomes the thief "No Face" because he's bored and wishes for a challenge. It's also hinted he may be trying to help out his family financially, since their fortune is somewhat on the rocks.
The Kisugi sisters in Cat's Eye.
- And in Tsukasa Hojo's next work, City Hunter, you have Kasumi Asou alias Theif n°305, who comes from a line of women phantom thieves.
Kaitou Kirameki Man
King of Bandit Jing
Mouse
Phantom Thief Pokémon 7
One of the earliest examples is probably Osamu Tezuka's Rainbow Parakeet, whose unusual name comes from his mastery of disguise & ability to mimic voices.
Played with in Ghost in the Shell when the Major is Cash Eye. A false thief created to trap a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
Called out to, but not really played right with Fumi and Sharna of Hayate the Combat Butler.
In One Piece, Nami can steal practically anything without anyone noticing (as seen in the Drum arc). However she prefers to brag.
The Black Rose in Ashita no Nadja.
Le Bled from Steam Detectives. Also known as Phantom Thief Le Bled!

Comic Books

The Rogue from The Maze Agency.
Fantomas (the Mexican comic book version anyway.)

Film

Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. 'the Phantom', from The Pink Panther and sequels.

Literature

Arsène Lupin the Trope Codifier.
The Saint
The Gray Ghosts in the Shadowleague books.
Conina from Sourcery once stole some diamonds from a thief who had himself absconded from a jewellery shop having swallowed them. She's actually a phantom thief illegitimate barbarian hairdresser.
The titular character of the German gangster spoof series Dickie Dick Dickens has traces of this, being a Chicago gangster in the 1920s who uses trickery, charm and his impossibly well-honed skills as a pickpocket to reach his goal. His son, Donald D. Doberman, is an even clearer example of the trope.
Old Possums Book of Practical Cats:

He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Comus from the Ellery Queen short story "The Dauphin's Doll" in Calendar of Crime.

Live-Action TV

Kamen Rider Diend has a character actually named Daiki Kaitou, but he's only partway to being a full-fledged Phantom Thief. He has the "theft of valuable objects" and "uses trickery and illusions" bits down, but his personality boils down to "real-life Troll" for his victims (especially Tsukasa), and he steals not out of a sense of social justice but because he enjoys it (though that's just his assertion, in truth it's because he's trying to fill the void left behind by his brother being brainwashed by a crime boss).
Il Ji-mae^[context?]
Parker on Leverage is this, being the only member of the team to never have been put in prison.

Video Games

Trilby epitomizes this trope in The Art of Theft. He continues to be one in The Chzo Mythos, though he soon finds his chosen vocation can be stressful.
Neeshka from Neverwinter Nights 2, although certainly interested in money, mostly sees burglary as a sort of competitive game, taking delight in difficult heists.
In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, Mask☆DeMasque (yes, complete with the star) is a Phantom Thief - and he's your client. The same case gives us his self-declared Ace Detective rival, Luke Atmey.
- Guess what: he really isn't. Further guess what: he really is but he didn't commit the theft in question - that was Atmey, who was responsible for putting him up to most of his previous heists and was using this one as an alibi.
- It's an awesome moment when you get the loveable little bastard cleared of all the crimes he actually did commit, almost by accident.
- Ace Attorney Investigations has another in "The Great Yatagarasu", a sort of Intrepid Reporter version of the Vigilante Man. The Yatagarasu has two odd quirks compared to other phantom thieves. First; the Yatagarasu doesn't steal much that's tangible. Rahter, the thief makes off with evidence of dirty dealings and makes them public. Secondly, the Yatagarasu doesn't actually send calling cards to the victim beforehand. Rather, the victim doesn't know that their info was even stolen, until it shows up on the news, having been delivered to the authorities alongside a calling card. Actually, there's three of "him", all Cowboy Cops. One however is The Mole planted in the group to keep them away from a smuggling ring. They are Byrne Faraday, Detective Tyrell Badd and Calisto Yew (She's the mole.)
  - Related is Kay Faraday, who claims to be the new Yatagarasu though she doesn't actually ever steal anything. Bonus points for managing the unlikely combination of Highly Visible Phantom Thief.
In the Thief series, Garrett is a classic Phantom Thief and Anti-Hero, though he steals for his own gain as well as for the thrill of it.
- The higher difficulty levels impose a code of honor (no killing humans; zombies and the like are fair game). The Fandom takes it further still, with a common Self-Imposed Challenge being the Ghost run - a playthrough in which Garrett gets in, steals everything not nailed down, and gets out again without anyone even suspecting he was ever there.
  - To clarify, Ghosting means leaving no evidence anyone was there. No unlocked doors (lock them again), nobody looked round and asked "What's that noise?", no broken windows, no doused torches (in Thief 2, which this is very popular for, re-lighting torches is easy) and definitely nobody injured or killed. The only difference is all the loot is gone.
Skye from Harvest Moon DS Cute is widely known as "Phantom Skye". He doesn't seem to steal for any other reason other than for the fun of it (or, should you choose to woo him, to meet with the player).
- Actually, Skye steals because he wants to make really good curry. The items he steals are ingredients and other people's curry dishes (to taste them).
Kasumi Goto of Mass Effect 2.

I'm the best thief in the galaxy. Not the most famous.

- She would lampshade leaving notes and signs of her robberies by saying her partner\lover Keiji got her out of the habit.
Sly Cooper.
Wario Master of Disguise features Wario becoming one of these using a magic wand he took from a real phantom thief.
The Phantom from Maple Story, the member of the Thief class among the original Five Heroes who sealed The Black Mage.
Most versions of Carmen Sandiego.

Web Comics

Geist from the webcomic Heist. He lives in a superhero universe and only his former clients even know he exists.
The unknown rook (thief) in Snow By Night, who goes after objects having to do with hearts. Even the other rooks are baffled by this person. Turns out the thief is Snow By Night, a manitou with magic powers, which explains why she is so hard to find.

Web Original

Grandmaster of Theft follows Cassidy Cain, the titular vigilante thief in addition to Deus, her arch nemesis.

Western Animation

Shego from Kim Possible. It's better to steal things than to buy them, because doing so nets you something important in the tools of the trade; experience.