Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Lodge DodgeWhere is Mr. Robot when you need him? On July 8, a Central Park West resident made an Internet reservation at Jaci’s Lodge, in South Africa. She later received an email from someone claiming to represent the Lodge, requesting a $12,000 payment via wire transfer from her bank to a bank in New Jersey. The woman followed the instructions. But when she arrived at the Lodge at noon on Aug. 24, management informed her that her payment had never been received and the Lodge’s computer had been hacked. The Lodge said they had also received an emailed cancelation from her.

Less WirelessA burglar made a late-night raid on a local wireless store. At 4:45 a.m. on Aug. 25, someone damaged the front glass door of the Verizon wireless store at 2657 Broadway, entered the establishment, removed merchandise and fled. Missing items included tablets, iPads, iPhones and other merchandize totaling $1,930.

Hostile HostelA gold watch worth $15,000 and other items were taken from a traveler staying at the Hosteling International hostel at 891 Amsterdam Ave., according to a police account. The traveler, a 30-year-old student from the Antilles, arrived at the hostel Aug. 18 and shared a room with four other women. She told police some of her belongings, which had been locked up with her luggage, were missing.

Converter ConversionTwo bad guys made an unauthorized conversion on a man’s vehicle. Sometime on Aug. 24, a 52-year-old man parked his green 2006 Toyota Sequoia outside 325 West 108th Street. When he returned to his SUV at 1 p.m. the following afternoon, he encountered a 54-year-old woman who told him that she had witnessed two unknown men tampering with the undercarriage of his vehicle at approximately 4 a.m. The victim looked under his SUV and found that his catalytic converter had been removed by use of cutting tools. The stolen converter was valued at $1,200.

Scant GrantAt 3:03 p.m. on Aug. 23, a 33-year-old Amsterdam Avenue resident received a phone call from a man who said his name was Kevin Lee, a federal worker calling to tell the woman that she was approved for a federal grant of $9,000. To obtain the money, however, she needed to go to her local CVS Store while she was still on her cell phone, purchase an iTunes card for $270, scratch off the authorization code, and read the number to him over the phone. She was subsequently told to purchase two more iTunes cards in the amounts of $500 and $350 and relay those codes as well. The victim was also informed that the $9,000 would be paid to her bank account once she provided her checking and routing numbers, which she gave the caller over the phone. The victim said she realized that she had been scammed only when she checked her account online and saw that the promised funds were not there. In all she had been tricked out of $1,120.