Thieves Target Older Adults At ATMs On The UES, Taking More Than $75K, Police Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are looking for suspects who have taken debit cards from older adults at banks on the Upper East Side and made unauthorized purchases and cash withdrawals totaling more than $75,000 over the past two months, New York City Police Department officials said.

In some cases, the suspects created a distraction to take the victim's card from the ATM while they were making a transaction, and in other cases, the suspects took the bank card directly from the victim, police said.

In all but one incident, the suspects targeted Chase Bank branches on the Upper East Side, police said.

According to the NYPD, the first incident was on May 8 at 2 p.m. inside the Chase Bank at Third Avenue and East 65th Street. Suspects approached an 87-year-old man and caused a distraction while he was making an ATM withdrawal, and took his debit card. Then, the suspects made unauthorized transactions totaling approximately $6,000, police said.

The next incident happened on May 14 at 1 p.m. inside the Chase Bank at York Avenue and East 79th Street, police said. Suspects approached a 90-year-old woman and took her debit card after creating a distraction while she was at the ATM. The suspects withdrew approximately $20,000 from the victim's account, police said.

At the same bank, nearly an hour later, suspects approached an 83-year-old woman, forcibly removed her bank card and made unauthorized transactions totaling approximately $3,000, police said.

Then, on May 19 at 2 p.m. at the Chase Bank on First Avenue between East 71st Street and East 72nd Street, suspects forcibly took a bank card from a 72-year-old man. The suspects withdrew approximately $4,800 from the victim's account, police said.

On May 27 at 12:40 p.m., at the Chase Bank on East 90th Street on the corner of Third Avenue, suspects targeted an 83-year-old woman, taking the victim's bank card. The suspects withdrew approximately $4,900 from the victim's account, police said.

At the same location on June 2 at 11 a.m., two suspects took a debit card from a 71-year-old man by causing a distraction while he was making a withdrawal and used it to make a total of $6,210.50 in unauthorized withdrawals and purchases, police said.

Next, at the Chase Bank on East 86th Street and Second Avenue at 1 p.m. on June 5, suspects approached an 81-year-old woman and took her bank card. The suspects withdrew approximately $5,300 from the victim's account, police said.

Then, the suspects returned to the Chase Bank on York Avenue and East 79th Street on June 19 at 11:30 a.m., where they targeted an 86-year-old woman, taking her debit card. The suspects withdrew approximately $23,900 from the victim's account, police said.

Most recently, on June 26 at 2:45 p.m. at the Citibank on East 86th Street and Madison Avenue, suspects took a bank card from a 93-year-old woman by causing a distraction while she was making a withdrawal. The suspects withdrew approximately $1,500 from the victim's account, police said.

The first suspect was last seen wearing a gray t-shirt, black jeans, and black sneakers, and the second suspect was last seen wearing a blue baseball cap, gray t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black sneakers.

Surveillance photos of a third suspect were released Monday.

No arrests have been made yet, police said.

Police said anyone with information regarding this pattern can 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 or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips.

This is a developing story and may be updated. For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.