Bless This Theft
A 64-year old woman who only spoke Chinese was approached by three young women on Canal Street who told the victim that she needed to have her money and jewelry blessed to ward off evil spirits. The victim, amazingly, brought all her cash and 23 pieces of gold jewelry, worth a whopping $60,000 in all, to a location they specified on White Street. While there, the thieves supposedly blessed her valuables, but really swiped them out of her bag and replaced them with newspapers and a bottle of water. The perpetrators then had the audacity to tell the unsuspecting woman to wait a week before opening the bag, at which point she reported the crime to police.

Designer Handbag Theft
Some crimes take a lot of effort and teamwork. Three people recently stole a $1,295 handbag from a designer store on Spring Street. In the heist, a female team member first went into the store and, while perusing the wares, casually moved the bag to one side of a display table and promptly left the store. After the woman left, a fellow thief—this time a man—came in and picked up the purse. Police are also looking for a third male suspect in the crime, but it is unclear what role he played in this group theft.

Be Cautious When You Eat Lunch
We’ve heard of dine and dash, but not this way. A 25-year-old woman eating lunch in a restaurant on Fifth Avenue had her wallet stolen right behind her back, as her purse was slung over her chair. The thief stole a number of cards and items from her purse, worth a total of $1,515, and charged $1,300 on her credit cards.

A similar incident occurred a day before, when a 49-year-old woman was having lunch in a downtown café and her wallet was stolen from her purse, which was on the back of her chair. When she called her credit card company to report it, they informed the woman that the thief had already spent $2,450 at a retail store.

Yet Another iTheft
Earlier this month, a 31-year-old woman was standing in front of a coffee shop on West Houston Street with a friend when two women attacked her, stealing the victim’s iPhone, worth around $500, then fleeing in a car. Police say the victim’s shoulder was bruised in the attack and she had a few scratches on her body.

Two-Wheeled iTheft
Even keeping your bag on you can’t guarantee it won’t be stolen. As a 33-year-old woman was walking up West Broadway, a thief riding by on his bike managed to reach out and grab her bag. The sack contained a $1,200 Macbook Air laptop, an iPad 2 worth $499 and prescription medication, totaling $1,849 in stolen goods

A Shopper’s Wallet Goes Missing
When we go shopping, we expect to spend most of our money ourselves, but this wasn’t the case for a 39-year-old woman who was recently shopping downtown. The woman told police that while looking at clothes at a store, she absentmindedly left her wallet in her shopping cart. She noticed her wallet was missing when she went to check out. Thankfully, no charges were made on her cards before she cancelled them.

Costumed Capers
When the regular old black ski mask doesn’t do the trick, some criminals turn to costumes for their illegal antics. Two men in their forties, who were posing as police officers, pushed a 24-year-old man against a wall. As one removed his wallet, the other acted as a lookout at the Canal Street subway station in Soho. While one fled the scene on foot, the other was successfully arrested by police and the $40 that had been stolen out of the young man’s wallet was returned.

Cell Phone Theft
As a 17-year-old man was standing on the corner of South and Whitehall streets, when two 18-year-old men jumped him. One of them kicked the man to the ground, while the other took his $500 Blackberry. The pair walked away, leaving the victim with injuries to one eye and scrapes on the back of his neck and elbows.

Lockdown
A 29-year-old woman was working out at a Wall Street gym when several items were stolen from her unsecured locker—she reportedly left the items in the locker even though her lock was broken. The robber made off with the woman’s purse, containing an iPhone, a driver’s license, several credit cards and some jewelry.

Making a Drive for the Border
A Canadian visitor to New York City is temporarily stranded here after his rental car was stolen from its Tribeca parking spot on Sunday, May 6, in the early evening. Inside the stolen vehicle was a cell phone, money, a purse, a GPS, some CDs and a Canadian passport.

Calling the Fashion Police
A 25-year-old woman reported her wallet was stolen from her purse in Lower Manhattan while she was en route to the PATH train. The woman’s credit card records revealed a $720 purchase at Abercrombie & Fitch  by the brand-savvy thief before she managed to cancel the card. Also missing were her driver’s license, a train ticket and some cash.

Caffeine Fiasco
A 55-year-old man was waiting in line at a major coffee shop chain for his morning caffeine fix when he noticed his laptop was missing from his bag. While in the shop, he reported, his bag never left his person. The laptop was never recovered from the incredibly sneaky thief.

Too Hungry to Notice
A 38-year-old woman was eating at a popular lunch chain mid-afternoon on a Tuesday in the Financial District when she noticed her purse had been stolen from where she set it behind her chair. The stealthy thief made off with her iPhone, wallet, passport, credit cards and house keys.

Phoning It In
A 17-year-old boy was arrested mid-day in Soho after grabbing an iPhone from the hands of a 49-year-old woman, who was texting. A witness apprehended the thief, who produced a pocket knife with the blade exposed. The perpetrator was arrested by officers who discovered a stolen Blackberry in his possession as well. Other evidence collected included multiple cell phone chargers, two iPods, an iPod Touch, two cell phones and a Bluetooth device.
In another itheft, on a Monday in Tribeca, a 63-year-old man’s company iPhone was grabbed by a young man who proceeded to run off the train they were both riding. The phone’s Find My iPhone application returned no results, and the victim decided not to pursue the matter. Additionally, a young man was enjoying himself at a nightclub in Soho on a Friday when he noticed his iPhone had been stolen out of his back pocket. He searched the club for the burglar to no avail, but his phone’s tracking system revealed a signal in the Bronx.

A 31-year-old man parked his car on the street in Soho on a Saturday and went to dinner, only to return at 2 a.m. to find a window smashed and a backpack missing. The backpack contained $1,670 in cash and  a charger, a calculator and a pair of sunglasses.

An Ambitious Thief
A woman was partying Thursday night at a Soho nightclub when she reached into her purse to discover various items missing, including cash, credit cards, an iPhone and makeup. American Express later called her to approve a $4,000 transaction on her account, which she denied.

Break In, Steal, Repeat
From Thursday, May 3 through Saturday, May 6, an unknown criminal broke into 18 different cars in the Upper East Side and stole personal effects ranging from loose papers to GPS devices. The robberies took place between East 94th and East 98th Streets on Lexington, Park, Madison, Third and Fifth avenues between 4 p.m. and midnight. In each case, the perpetrator would break the driver or passenger’s side window to gain access. A number of the cars were luxury vehicles, most of them Mercedes-Benzes. Multiple iPods, iPads, phones, glasses and even a hard drive were stolen. No witnesses have been discovered so far to the crimes and the crook remains at large.

Look at the Fine Print
An Upper East Side man was duped on Craigslist over what he believed to be a good deal on concert ticket. The victim believed that he had found a rare ticket to a sold-out Drake concert on the website. On Wednesday, May 9, at about 3:30 p.m., the victim met with a black man who was sporting cowboy boots and called himself “Martin Lester.” After the victim handed over $500 for the ticket, the two parted ways. The victim returned home to find several inconsistencies on the ticket. He later called Ticketmaster only to discover that the ticket was faked.

Mother’s Day Break-in
Two Upper East Side women who share an apartment left for Mothers Day weekend only to discover that their home was ransacked while they were gone. The crime took place on East 83rd Street and was suspected to have occurred on Saturday, May 12, at about 6:30 p.m. One of the victims returned home from an excursion to find the front door only partially locked. A cursory investigation turned up empty beer bottles in the trash, both bedrooms combed through and an I.D. card belonging to a Brooklyn man. The victims were robbed of their MacBooks, a loss valued at $2,000, and one of the women lost a watch valued at $150, while the other was robbed of her camera valued at $350. There were no witnesses to the crime and the crook is still on the loose, despite the ID found at the scene.

A Startling Awakening
A late-night traveler took the ride of his life when he hailed a cab and fell asleep in the backseat of the car, only to be awakened by an angry cabbie. After a heated verbal argument over the fare, the victim was attacked by the seething cabbie. The victim was picked up at 1:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 13, at East 6th Street and Sixth Avenue. After he nodded out in the backseat, the cabbie drove the napping rider to East 67th Street off First Avenue. The cabbie awakened the passenger, who then began to argue about the fare. The victim got out of the car and was followed for four blocks by the cabbie, who finally smashed a glass bottle over the victim’s head. The victim received lacerations to the face and top of the head. The cabbie then returned to his car and fled. The car has been identified as one of the thousands of yellow medallion cabs that roam the streets and the driver was described as a black man in his 40s with a bald head.

Cash Grab
A popular chain store on Lexington Avenue in the Upper East Side was a victim of grand larceny by two of its employees. The two women were both managers at the store. Over a period of several months starting in March, the two continually made cash refunds for themselves, embezzling over $82,523 in cash. The company became suspicious when they saw that there were so many cash refunds but no customer receipts to go along with them. The two women stopped showing up to work and a fellow employee reported the crime on Saturday, May 12.

Leave Your Bags on Your Back

It’s nice to know people are so trusting of those around them. In New York City it’s a rare quality, but one that can cost its practitioners dearly. On the night of Saturday, April 28, a woman at a bar near 76th Street and Second Avenue had her bag stolen off the back of her chair. The unknown thief took the woman’s cellphone, wallet and a pair of Marc Jacobs sunglasses as well as her Yohji Yamamoto bag valued at $1,500. The 21st Precinct wishes to remind residents that although going to a bar usually promises a night of fun and friends, people should always keep an eye on their belongings.

Party Pooper

Throwing a house party is always fun—when it’s held at someone else’s home. One resident of the Upper East Side learned this lesson the hard way on Saturday, April 28, after an unknown partygoer stole the show.

The host was allowing people into his soiree when a party crasher made his way inside. After mingling with the other guests, the crook got to work and pocketed a Tag Heuer and a Seiko watch, each one valued at over $1,000. The thief, maybe emboldened by his new timepieces, also seized an iPod and then went for the big prize. As he made his way out of the apartment, he shoved a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black under his coat, thus stealing the life of party and giving himself something to toast with, too. So far, no arrests have been made.

Taking a Beating for Electronic Love

From Tribeca to Harlem, there are always cases of people being ambushed for their valuables, an unpleasant fact New Yorkers must deal with now that they keep pricey toys in their pockets. These crooks do not discriminate or use fair tactics, as one woman discovered last Thursday night on Third Avenue near East 95th Street. The woman was talking on her cellphone when she was approached by a group of four black men and two women, who demanded that she hand over her valuables or suffer a beating. She then made a choice that the NYPD swears up and down is the absolute wrong thing to do: She held fast to her cellphone and invited the challenge. The group punched the woman repeatedly in the face and body, while trying to get the victim to release her vise-like grip on her phone. After realizing that they were fighting a losing battle, the dastardly thugs took off down East 95th toward the West Side. The victim refused medical attention and suffered a few bruises, but she got lucky, according to police. Although these crooks quickly took off, New Yorkers should remember that while we may be some tough cookies, losing a life over a cellphone is not worth the cost.

Baggage Claim

The MTA tells you to keep your belongings in sight at all times, and this rule applies for being on the street as well. At about noon of Saturday the 28th, a woman found an ideal parking spot on East 82nd Street, but needed a way to ensure that the spot remained open to her vehicle; ergo she utilized a piece of luggage as a means to tell other motorists that this spot was off-limits. One crooked driver was not in need of her spot, but realized the potential to profit from her blunder. When the woman returned to park her car, she saw a black sedan pulling away with her luggage in the backseat of the car. The woman lost several shirts, a $400 silk dress and a box of Quaker oatmeal.