Is the "you see (persons name) acquire an object" message you get in the bottom of the screen considered a spot check regarding someone taking an object or not. there was a small incident where a character stole a key out of an "dead" persons pack. One of the other party members saw the little yellow message and instantly called the thief on it. That started a long ish debate on if the thief should get a share of the loot etc. so is it actually based on the spot check or not?

If it says "You see x take x", then you've seen it.

To counter this, would-be thieves can enter "Thief Mode" by way of the crafting menu. This makes use of pick-pocket ranks, to take things unseen.

Ok, thank you