QUOTE… sticky fingers A tendency or inclination to steal things. I think the new cashier we hired has sticky fingers, because money has begun disappearing from the till on the days that he's working. Someone with sticky fingers has been taking supplies out of the office. ...UNQUOTE ENGLISH IDIOMS TO NATIVE SPEAKERS: **** COMMONPLACE: very frequently used, everyone knows it and most people use it, and a must-know for EFL learners, 1000/3000 *** COMMON: frequently used, almost everyone knows it and a considerable portion of people use it, the more an EFL learner knows the better it is, -3000/-5000 ** UNUSUAL: unknow to a considerable portion of the native speakers, but they can usually understand when hearing them, the EFL learners can just resort to dictionaries when encountering them * RARE: even unknown to most native speakers, and a considerable of them can not manage to understand without coming to dictionaries

The idiom is not used very often, but if said it would be understood as someone who steals things. Other words that are more common: Lifted. My wallet was lifted from the dresser during the party. He lifted my wallet while I wasn’t paying attention. Pinched. My earrings were pinched from my jewelry box. Ripped off. I was ripped off Friday night. My wallet was lifted from my back pocket and my wife’s earrings were lifted from the motel room.

I’ve heard this expression, but it would be a hard one to use correctly. First realize that the expression is trying to say a bad thing but avoiding saying it directly. So you usually would t use it in a sentence that has direct language in it as well like yours does. Here are some examples that work a little better, but I agree don’t try to use an idiom you don’t fully understand how to use correctly. They must have sticky fingers because the watch that was on my dresser before they came seems to be missing. Don’t leave her alone in the classroom because she has sticky fingers. If you do, something might go missing. The last one is a little more direct but it’s close to the wording of something I heard a teacher say about a student. The closest I’ve come to trying to use an idiom I wasn’t positive about in another language is saying something like: “Is this where people say ‘Donde hay hambre, no hay pan duro’?

I really appreciate your recommendation. I definitely not going to use it.

I'm a native English speaker. I reccomend you never use that idiom because I've literally never heard that and it kinda seems off honestly. Especially if I heard a non native say it. Lol