Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

HOME BURGLARIZEDAn East 63rd Street apartment was burglarized and about $21,000 in electronics, jewelry and other items were taken while its occupant was at work, police reported. The stolen goods included rings, a watch, earrings, bracelets, a jewelry case, accessories, electronics and cash. The total stolen came to $21,305. The occupant of 404 East 63rd Street told police she had locked her apartment door as she left for work on the morning of Sept. 21.

Lotto scam Any lottery that requires upfront payment of fees or taxes is likely to be a scam. Sometime between March 28 and Sept. 5, a 92-year-old female Upper East Side resident received phone calls advising her that she had won $10 million in a Lotto contest. To claim her winnings, however, she would have to pay fees and taxes by means of Western Union Money Grams wired to an address in Jamaica. Sure enough, the woman became a victim of a lottery scam and wound up paying out $10,000 for winnings she never received.

DispiritedOn June 24, a 27-year-old woman was approached by a woman at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue, who claimed she could help rid her of evil spirits. The 27-year-old accompanied the other woman back to her apartment, where she paid $45 in cash for the “spirit whisperer’s” services followed by another $1,000 charged to her credit card. On July 5, the unsuspecting 27-year-old gave the other woman another $9,000 in cash. The young victim finally realized that she had been scammed and reported the incident to police on Sept. 22. In all, she had paid the scammer $10,100.

Lingerie LongingA shoplifter in the Agent Provocateur store provoked an arrest for grand larceny. Shortly after 3 p.m. on Sept. 22, a 33-year-old woman from Massapequa entered the high-end lingerie boutique at 675 Madison Ave. and went to view the merchandise on the second floor. As she was preparing to leave the store a few minutes later, a store associate saw that one of the displays upstairs had been emptied of its merchandise. The shopper was intercepted and found to be in possession of the missing items. She was arrested at 3:27 p.m. and charged with grand larceny. The recovered items totaled $2,745.

Counter FitAt 2:18 p.m. on Sept. 18, a 21-year-old man from Brooklyn and a 29-year-old man from Manhattan stole a Louis Vuitton wallet that a 28-year-old man from Murray Street had placed on a counter in Bloomingdale’s. The wallet contained three credit cards, a debit card, and a driver’s license. The two bad guys then attempted to make $1,187 worth of fraudulent purchases using one of the credit cards in the stolen wallet. They were arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.