Public Safety
Police

Wallets of Shoppers at Supermarket Targeted by Organized Thieves Last Thursday, Friday

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Thieves working together took wallets from two distracted shoppers at Whole Foods supermarket in Darien at least twice last week, in one case when a shopper was distracted when ordering sushi, and in another case when someone working with the other thieves distracted a shopper, Darien police said. Police didn’t say whether or not any of the thieves in one case were the same ones on both days. Police described each of the incidents with these accounts:
First Theft
The first theft was reported to police at 12:58 p.m., Thursday. Police reviewed store surveillance video, which showed a group of three women working together. One woman engaged the victim in conversation while the other two worked together to remove the victim’s wallet from her purse.

Consumer and Finances
Govt image from FTC Video What to do After a Data Breach

FTC: You’re Vulnerable to a Massive Data Breach If You Stayed at Any of These Hotels from 2014 to Last Sept

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Editor’s note: If you stayed at Marriott International’s Starwood brand hotels, including W Hotels, St. Regis, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts, and other hotel and timeshare properties, the personal information you gave to the hotel is vulnerable to the recent massive data breach involving as many as 500 million customers. That’s what the Federal Trade Commission recently said about the data breach. Here’s the kind of information that might have been stolen: “According to Marriott, the hackers accessed people’s names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers, dates of birth, gender, Starwood loyalty program account information, and reservation information. For some, they also stole payment card numbers and expiration dates.”

Public Safety
Jose Battle mug shot Darien P.D.

Police: Man, 24, Tried to Buy Almost $2,300 in Liquor Using Stolen Identity

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A 24-year-old man called up a local liquor store and tried to buy an expensive case of whisky with somebody else’s name and credit card, but police detectives were called and one of them, in turn, fooled the man into thinking he was the store owner. Police then checked the credit card number the man was using, and later arrested him when he went to the store to pick up the case of booze. The man first called up a liquor store in town on Thursday, Nov. 8 and tried to get a case of Johnny Walker Blue delivered to a local church, and he offered to pay for the whole thing — which turned out to be a whopping $2,297.04 for the expensive whisky — over the phone with his credit card. But the liquor store owner got suspicious, put off the caller for several days (in which the young man called back the next day and then on Monday, Nov.

Public Safety
Darien Police Night 03-01-17

Police: Thousands of Dollars Stolen from Checks in a Mailbox — on a Shoestring Budget

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A man and two teenage boys, all from Yonkers, were arrested after they stole envelopes from a mailbox at the Darien Post Office on Saturday, police said. Also, a check was found to have been altered after it had been mailed at the same place on the previous Tuesday, police said. Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:

Two Checks Altered for a Total of $2,343

On Tuesday, Oct. 23, a man later told police, he had mailed six checks by putting the envelopes in a mailbox at the Post Office on Corbin Drive. His bank later informed him that some of the checks had possibly been cashed fraudulently.

Public Safety
Darien Police Department

Shopper Turns Her Back on Her Purse, Bank Soon Tells Her $8,513 in Charges Attempted

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A woman shopping at a Darien supermarket on Friday turned her back on her cart, which held her purse, which held her wallet, which a man stole. Not only did she have no money for her groceries, but her bank s0on told her three attempts were made to spend a total of $8,513 in Stamford. Darien police gave these additional details about the theft:

The woman was shopping at Whole Foods Supermarket at about 5 p.m. on Friday when she reached into her purse and found that her wallet was missing. Store employees looked at surveillance video of the produce section. They saw a man reach into her purse and remove her wallet while she turned away from the shopping cart, where it was sitting.

Public Safety
Police

Police: Darien Woman Reports ID Theft of $50,000 From CT Higher Education Trust (CHET) Account

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A 56-year-old town resident told Darien police last Wednesday that more than $50,000 had been taken out of one of her accounts in January. The woman had an account with CHET (Connecticut Higher Education Trust), a state-sponsored way to save for college expenses, but she didn’t have any online access to it set up. In January, she told police, someone did set up access to her account, without her knowing it, and transferred out more than $50,000 from it — stealing the money from her. Darien police have opened an investigation, although they haven’t found any local connection to the crime. The CHET fraud department is investigating the matter, and Darien police will help them, if needed, police said in an announcement.

Public Safety
Mug Shot Kashai Princess George

Police: Bronx Woman Arrested on Identity Theft, Impersonation, Forgery Charges

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According to police: 25-year-old Bronx woman with a phony driver’s license tried to cash a check at a bank in Darien, but bank employees — already on the lookout for her — called police, who arrested her. Darien police described what happened with this account (including accusations not proven in court):

Sometime before 1:02 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, police were called to TD Bank at 55 Post Road. Bank employees told them that a woman, later identified as Kashai Princess George, 25, of the Bronx, had been going to other TD Bank branches in Greenwich and Stamford, claiming to be Saronji Basil and attempting to get account information and cash checks under that name. An internal bank memo had gone out to various branches warning them of the woman. Then she showed up at the Darien branch.

Public Safety
Darien police logo

Even After an Arrest, Trouble for Darien Victim of Identity Theft Isn’t Over

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Just hours after police found numerous unlocked vehicles were entered on Herman Avenue and nearby Allen O’Neill Drive, a Herman Avenue resident was contacted by a Target store in New York City on Friday and asked if she could confirm that she was applying for a store credit card. That was how the Darien woman who answered the phone found out that she was still being victimized from a case of identity theft that happened in December. The fact that vehicles in her neighborhood had just been entered — a situation that sometimes leads to identity theft — turned out to be a complete coincidence. The woman’s car had not been entered. The woman went to Darien Police Headquarters and told them about the incident later that morning.