Crime Watch

Sweeptake

A woman on East 74th Street became the victim of a sweepstakes scam. At 9 AM on Monday, October 21, a 75-year-old woman living on East 74th Street provided her Social Security and American Express account numbers to an unknown person who claimed to be calling from the Bank of America on behalf of Publishers Clearinghouse. The woman told police that the perpetrator had used her Social Security number to open a Visa account and an American Express account. Both accounts have been closed by the fraud departments of those two companies. The perpetrator had also attempted to write a check in the amount of $9,500 sent to an address in Florida. Fortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful.

Three Against One

Three men were arrested after attempting to steal a man's cell phone. At 10:25 PM on Tuesday, October 29, a 30-year-old man was approached by three men aged 19, 20, and 19 years of age on East 91st Street as he was viewing his cell phone. They grabbed for his phone, but the phone fell to the ground and the man attempted to pick it up. When he reached for his phone on the ground, the three muggers began to punch him in the face with closed fists and take the cell from his hand by force, but the man managed to hold onto his phone. He suffered a swollen lump to his forehead and was taken to Lenox Hill hospital. The three muggers fled and were apprehended several streets away before a positive identification was made on all three defendants. A camera recorded the incident at the scene. The three defendants were arrested and charged with robbery. The phone they had attempted to take was a white iPhone 4 valued at $300.

Double-D-ception

A woman got breast augmentation surgery using false ID. At 12 noon on Thursday, April 12, a 19-year-old woman entered a cosmetic surgeon's office on East 85th Street and got breast augmentation surgery using false identification. The surgeon's office discovered the fraud when the two health care financing companies involved made a chargeback for $7,599.

Choke Hold and Grab

A man used force to steal a woman's handbag on East 95th Street. At 1:55 AM on Friday, October 25, a 59-year-old woman was followed from the East 96th Street subway station by a 28-year-old man wearing a black hoodie. On East 95th Street, the thug put her in a choke hold, saying, "Gimme everything you got!" The woman gave the mugger her handbag, and he then fled on foot towards Lexington Avenue. Area video cameras may have captured his image. Police searched the area but were unable to locate the perp. The woman's iPod tracking device had been turned off. The items stolen were a brown Ralph Lauren satchel valued at $1,500, an Apple iPod Mini costing $650, a Prada wallet worth $300, $50 in cash, various credit cards, and a driver's license.