A Southern California man is working to track down the suspects who stole thousands of dollars from him in a distraction theft scheme.
On March 19, Irvin Nelson had finished shopping at an Albertsons market on Saticoy Street in Reseda and was paying for his groceries at a checkout stand.
He noticed two people behind him standing a bit too close for comfort as he entered the PIN for his debit card payment.
“There were two people behind me, a man and a woman, and they were getting really close to me,” he recalled.
As he was putting money back into his wallet, that’s when the woman, who Nelson described as a blond female with a heavy accent, bumped into him, causing his cash to fall on the floor.
“She’s down there trying to pick it up for me, and I said, ‘Get away, that’s my money,” he said.
The thieves then followed Nelson outside to the parking lot. They caught up with him and told him he had dropped a $20 bill.
“They said, ‘This is your money,’ so I reached into my pocket and pulled my wallet out,” Nelson said. “I had my wallet right here. She put her hand over it and then she handed me the $20 bill. I think that’s when she slipped my debit card out.”
After successfully distracting Nelson and stealing his debit card, within minutes, the thieves withdrew nearly $1,000 from a nearby ATM.
“Then, they went inside the bank, spoke to a teller and withdrew $5,000,” Nelson said. “[The bank] did not ask them for identification.”
Nelson said he is stunned that the bank teller reportedly did not ask for an ID card. He’s now working with Chase Bank to recover the stolen funds.
“Honestly, I can’t believe I let this person get that close to me,” Nelson said. “If anybody comes up to you saying you lost your 20 bucks, tell him to get out of your face.”
For now, Nelson is working with authorities on the case as the suspects remain at large.
“$6,000 may not be a lot to many people, but to my family, it is,” he said.
Over the past several months, the Los Angeles Police Department has been warning the public about a spike in distraction scams and thefts, including a trend of criminals stealing jewelry from the elderly.
The suspects in these thefts are believed to be of Caucasian descent, possibly Eastern European, and are often a man and a woman who approach victims during daylight hours. They typically distract victims by asking for directions, chitchatting, or complimenting them on their jewelry, LAPD said.
Anyone with information on these types of crimes is urged to call the LAPD at 1-877-527-3247.
Anonymous tips can be provided to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
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