GREENWOOD, Ind. — Greenwood police are working to catch up with thieves who are targeting elderly shoppers.
They ask the victims for help, then help themselves to wallets filled with credit cards. In one theft alone, thieves pocketed thousands of dollars.
An overhead store security camera caught a pair of suspected thieves purchasing a couple grocery carts of merchandise, along with stacks and stacks of prepaid debit cards. Greenwood police said the suspects paid for it all with credit cards stolen from an elderly shopper.
"I think it was in excess of $7,000," said Det. Scott Cottongim, Greenwood Police Department.
Greenwood detectives are investigating a half dozen almost identical crimes committed in the last five months. The most recent occurred last week. Another video camera recorded the pair leaving the store.
Police believe several thieves are working separately but have similar tactics. They target shoppers in supermarkets and big box stores. All of the victims are elderly women.
The thieves look for open purses lying in grocery carts. They distract the victim by asking a question. Cottongim said the most recent incident involved the thieves asking an 82-year-old woman for help reading a label on an item at the Meijer.
"She feels when they were talking, conversing, he went down and reached in and got her wallet," Cottongim said. "Left the purse and took the wallet."
The pair then quickly took off to the Sam's Club in Greenwood and went to town at the cash register.
The pandemic is giving the thieves an advantage. They are wearing masks like everyone else, hiding their faces from security cameras and their victims. But last week, one of the suspects slipped up and apparently slipped off his mask. His face was caught on camera.
Investigators believe their suspects are experienced criminals who have done this before and they want to stop them from doing it again. They are asking anyone with information about the thefts to contact the Greenwood police department.