Thieves Swipe Credit Card and iPhone from 93-Year-Old at Zabar’s, Police Say
Police are looking for two people who they say stole money, a credit and an iPhone from a senior citizen who was shopping at Zabar’s.
It was reported to police that on Saturday, November 7th, 2020 at 1420 hours inside the “Zabars” grocery store, located at 2245 Broadway, two unidentified individuals approached a 93-year-old female victim from behind. While working in concert individual #1 distracted the victim as individual #2 removed her pocketbook containing $200.00, credit cards and an Apple iPhone from her walker. The individuals fled the scene in vehicle to parts unknown. On Monday, November 9th, 2020 inside the “Bloomingdale’s” department store located at 2085 Broadway, at 1439 hours, the victim’s credit card was used to make $2.400.00 worth of illegal purchases. The individuals are described as follows:
Individual #1: Male, dark complexion with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a baseball cap, light colored hooded jacket, a light colored shirt, dark colored pants, black shoes and a surgical mask.
Individual #2: Female, medium complexion with a medium build and medium length dark hair. She was last seen wearing eyeglasses, a blue colored hooded jacket, a burgundy and white striped button down shirt, blue jeans, grey sneakers with blue laces and a surgical mask
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @ NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
That is just plain sick. Wow. I feel for the lady this happened to.
there is a special place in hell for people who rip off senior citizens, especially with a walker or cane. i hope the thieves are caught, although they’ll likely face a minor charge, if any, get off with a warning and go right back to doing the same thing to someone else.
Lady D
I wish I was a judge and have this case in front of me….
I don’t understand why the victim had not yet (after two days) reported the crime to her credit care service. Perhaps she was badly injured(?)
Also, it’s curious to me why the perpetrators both robbed and spent the loot on the UWS. Do they live here?
It’s possible the card was used right after it was stolen, but because it was a Saturday the purchase may not have appeared on her card until Monday.
It sounded like they knew exactly when the purchase was made at Bloomingdales, exactly TWO DAYS after the card got stolen. Her Phone got stolen also. Perhaps she did not have relatives in the area. She did not have her credit card company phone numbers recorded. Someone should run a credit check in this case and get all the relevant phone numbers. Someone from the Police? They are not very far from Zabar’s and the Police Station is open on Saturdays. Someone from Zabar’s could have helped her get there. The ball got dropped at multiple points. Zabar’s could also assign somebody to help with shopping to customers who come shopping with walkers without companion.
What a shame! And nobody told her to call her credit card company to alert them that the card was stolen?
Lock these low lives up!
Blaming the senior citizen for not reporting her card stolen quick enough?? There’s no more “calling by phone” anyway. Everyone is forced to do their business on the annoying internet. She’s 93 and maybe had difficult figuring out how to report a stolen card online.
That’s not true….you can report a stolen card or pay your bill by the telephone number on the back of the credit card. Granted she doesn’t have access to the phone number because she lost her credit cards but someone in her family should have organized her where she keeps a list at home of her credit cards and phone numbers to call. It’s still a shame to see lowlifes like this roaming the streets and praying and 93 year old women. Karma will get them.
Someone from Zabar’s or the Police should have asked her if she had relatives, friends to help out as her iPhone also got stolen. If the answer is NO, they should have obtained the phone numbers via Credit Check and should have alerted her credit card companies. It sounds like the purchase was made at Bloomingdales exactly two days later, not simply recorded two days later. There must be video recordings from that place too. Hopefully they will get caught some day. Brazen cowards.
Of course you can report a stolen card by phone!
They stole her iPhone also.
Perhaps they could not even use it if she had password protection. If they managed to use it, at least the Police has slightly more information to catch them.
I don’t quite understand the Bloomingdale issue… If the credit cards were stolen on Saturday, November 7…. then two days later on Monday, November 9 a credit card was used at Bloomingdale’s. I’m assuming the 93-year-old woman who was ripped off by these creeps… than why didn’t someone or someone in her family cancel her credit cards. BTW If she has home insurance, she is covered the $200 recovery.
A 93-year-old woman shouldn’t be out shopping by herself, (she is pray to these lowlifes) She should be accompanied by a friend or designated someone from her family to accompany her.
Karma … that’s all I have to say… what horrible people
Is it possible we could set up a Go Fund me page for the victim? I’m sure she could use some help, It,s utterly vile what they did to her.
All these comments about family organizing her credit cards and family and friends being designated to go with her to the store…
A lot of us have no family near (if at all) to take care of these things and all of our friends that are left are now as old as we are.
Sometimes we don’t have much choice but to shop alone and shouldn’t have to give up on the only things that are left to enjoy at 93 like going to zabars around the corner without getting robbed.
The only comment that makes any sense. As for reporting the card immediately: she was probably in shock.
Thank you for the reminder to not assume that everyone has a support system of family and friends. We must all be awake and aware and watch out for each other.
True, these days many olders don’t have family left or available. So important to get to know one’s neighbors better so you can support one another in times of trouble, and enjoy each other’s company the rest of the time.
Good points all, CF: Credit card companies, senior service agencies, others should issue form sheets for people (including seniors, but who hasn’t lost a credit card?) to fill out, forms that have spaces for card data, including where to call or write if/when the card is lost/stolen. Paper trails: very useful if your phone and cards and connectivity are lost. And keep the list updated. And perhaps stores could assign workers to accompany vulnerable shoppers.
Her iPhone also got stolen but somebody from Zabar’s or the Police could have helped her run a Credit Check, get the phone numbers and make the phone calls. Perhaps these Brazen Cowards will be caught with the help of Zabar’s and Bloomingdale’s videos, maybe even phone calls from her stolen iPhone if she did not have Password Protection enabled.
I completely understand 100%. Maybe our community should get together and have younger designated volunteers that are responsible and reliable available to walk with our great senior citizens of the Upper Westside to assist them to and from their nearby shopping stores. I’m sure there’s enough of us could spend 45 minutes to an hour with them in a day. Perhaps this is something our Community Board 7 can work on?
What say you CB7?
Our great senior citizens of the Upper Westside needs your help.
Can CB7 come up with a plan to assist with responsible and reliable younger volunteers?
Happy Thanksgiving….
They stole her phone! Why would you blame her for not calling the credit card company right away?
Mary
FYI
It was almost 3 days later that the credit card was used buy those lowlifes, thieves.
Most seniors still have landlines.