In parking lots near supermarkets, women are massively robbed: criminals have come up with a cunning way
'12.08.2022'
Nadezhda Verbitskaya
Over the past month, at least 10 shoppers have been mugged at Costco and Bed & Bath parking lots in 5 boroughs of Long Island. The robbers pretended to need help. This was announced on August 11 by the Suffolk County Police, writes NBC New York.
According to the cops, the most recent incident in this scheme occurred on August 10th. The woman was in the Costco parking lot at Gareth Place in Commack around 15:30 p.m. A man approached her and asked for directions. When she returned to her car, she noticed that her wallet was missing from the passenger seat.
The woman went to Costco to see if anyone had returned her wallet. She saw a man who asked her for directions, along with another man at the entrance to the store. Police said they ran when they saw the victim.
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This led investigators to uncover a branching scheme. Sometimes two men, sometimes two women and a man have attacked shoppers, especially Costco customers, in Suffolk County parking lots since July 14. In each of the 10 burglaries, one person asked for directions while another stole credit cards.
All robberies took place in parking lots between 12:15 pm and 16:25 pm in Holbrook, Nesconset, East Northport, Commack and Melville. Wednesday's report was the only theft in August related to the case. But police say the scammers attacked customers here three more times: July 14, July 16 and July 21.
Costco customers have also been targeted in store parking lots on Beacon Drive in Holbrook and Highway 25 in Nesconset, Suffolk County Police said. According to the same scheme, there was a theft in the parking lot of the Bed & Bath Hotel on the Jericho Turnpike in East Northport.
