104th Boss Talks Crime With CB 5 Cmte.
A skimming device recently found on a Middle Village bank’s ATM picked up debit card numbers belonging to 15 customers, the 104th Precinct’s commanding officer reported during the Community Board 5 Public Safety Committee meeting last Monday night, May 5, at the board’s Glendale office.
According to Capt. Christopher Manson, the 104th Precinct received a call from a banker concerning a suspicious box on the lobby door card reader of the TD bank located at 79-55 Metropolitan Ave.
Upon inspecting the device, police found a second panel with a small camera attached to the receipt printer, which allowed the suspects to obtain card numbers and PINs stored and sent straight to the perpetrator’s cell phones.
Those with questions or information on the device should contact the 104th Precinct at 1-718- 386-3004.
In other news, the Green Dot Scam is still at large in the 104 claiming $27,000 in the precinct with seven out of eight people falling victim to it, Manson stated.
Residents are receiving calls from outside the U.S. posing as IRS, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) or utility company agents threating imprisonment, fines or service termination if supposed fines or late bills are not paid off immediately. Victims are asked to buy a Green Dot Money Card from 7-Eleven, Walgreens, or CVS, with up to $5,000 on it and give the suspects the serial number.
As soon as they hand over the serial number, Manson noted, the money is gone.
Scammers have also called masquerading as relatives in distress and in need of emergency funds.
Tow trucks are facing extra enforcement by the 104th Precinct, Manson stated. Several trucks were seized and drivers were ticketed and/or arrested for speeding, parking, and illegal solicitation.
Manson said there’s been “more action [against tow trucks] in the past six months than there’s been in the past 4 years.”
In conjunction with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero program, which aims at zero pedestrian and traffic fatalities, the 104th Precinct is paying close attention to traffic and pedestrian accidents. Manson claimed a decrease in said accidents in the precint.
With spring having arrived, the precinct is teaming up with Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct to make sure Highland Park is cleared out by 9 p.m. and will be patrolling the park through the night.
Stolen cars are up citywide, particularly in Glendale, 70 percent of which were 10 years or older, the captain noted.
Auto break-ins are up 600 percent from 2013 for the week of Apr. 28 through May 5, with seven total break-ins for the week this year compared to one in 2013. Manson said, “[we’re] victims of our own success.”
Tires and rims were stolen most, followed by accessories and property inside the car. Glendale has had the most break-ins, followed by Ridgewood.
Additionally, two stores were shut down last month for selling alcohol to minors via nuisance abatement proceedings, according to Det. Thomas Bell of the 104th Precinct Community Affairs Unit.
Mt. Everest Deli at 56-09 Myrtle Ave. in Ridgewood was shut down, but has since opened with restrictions. Apulum Bar at 1819 Palmetto St. in Ridgewood was closed as of May 12.
