MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are searching for several subjects in connection for a couple of crafty crimes, one in Coconut Grove and the other in Miami Gardens.
City of Miami Police are investigating a pickpocket incident that occurred in a cafe in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, leaving a woman feeling “completely gutted, very violated.”
Speaking with 7News on Tuesday, Natalie McGinn said she was having a meal at the Le Pain Quotidien, located at 3425 Main Highway, at around 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
Surveillance video shows one subject adjusting a table behind McGinn before sitting down. A female subject is then seen walking up and joining him at the table. She is then seen reaching into the victim’s bag, which was hanging behind her chair.
“Adjusts the table a bit, so it seems like, I don’t know, positioning it potentially for what is about to happen,” said McGinn as she reacted to the surveillance footage. “You see her adjusting her chair to get a better angle to reach her arm into my bag.”
The pickpocket got to work, leaning back. McGinn believes the thief initially pulled out her cellphone from her bag and put it back. The victim said the thief then got to the good stuff and passed it under the table to he accomplice.
“Fifteen hundred dollars in cash and credit cards and debit cards were removed from my wallet, and then the person proceeded to close the wallet and put it back in my purse,” said McGinn.
Since McGinn’s friend offered to pay for the meal at the restaurant, she didn’t realize her credit cards were missing until she went to use her debit card an hour and a half later. Then her husband got an alert from American Express.
“I was going to go to the ATM and realized that that card was missing, and then my husband called me and tells me that AmEx had sent an alert that over $1,200 had been spent at Saks Fifth Avenue in Brickell City Centre,” said McGinn.
The victim said the cards have since been canceled, and the cash is gone, but she still wants the duo caught.
“Sad to say, you can’t trust everyone around you, even if you feel safe,” said McGinn.
Over in Miami Gardens, workers at Price Choice Foodmarket were victims by a thief pretending to pay for his money transfers, but with a sleight of hand, made away with $3,000.
On Monday, March 11, shortly after 9:30 p.m., surveillance footage shows a man walking into the food market to wire some money.
“They’re about to sign off for their money transfer,” said one employee who was ready to wire the subject $2,500.
When the man was counting the money in front of the clerk, he sneakingly hid some of the money in his hands.
“At the time that he is counting it, he starts flipping the bills from the bottom in a half fold, slipping the money back into her hand and keeping a portion of the money in his fist,” said an employee.
The clerk was fooled for a second time when the man asked for another $2,500 wire and pulled the same scam on her.
“Hands her the money again, and flipping the money from the bottom part and handing her the money, making her believe that she hadreceived the full amount,” said the employee.
When asked how much the crook shorted the clerk, the employee who spoke with 7News said, “Three-thousand one hundred dollars short from her register.”
Surveillance footage shows the man walking out with another man who was standing with him the whole time.
Price Choice Foodmarket told 7News that they have changed their policies when it comes to wiring money, and they want the crooks caught.
If you have any information on either of these thefts, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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