Thursday, February 21, 2013

Con Artists At The Post Office [Updated]

You read about organized scams like this, but it's pretty creepy that they're happening right here in Uptown.  A reader reminds everyone to be cautious, even at the Post Office:

"I went to the Uptown Post Office today at 11:45 to mail a package, and there was a thin, middle-aged, well-dressed African-American man (probably 5’11”) in front of me when I was coming to the exit door on Broadway.

He went to exit in front of me, and then (I realize now) pretended to get his left hand stuck in the door handle in front of me.  He acted like he couldn’t get his hand freed, and then asked me for 'a little assistance.'  I hesitated, not understanding (and not wanting to touch a stranger), and he asked me to pull up on his arm so that he could free his hand.  He said it was stuck because of his large watch.

Well, during this commotion, you guessed it:  a person behind me must have lifted my wallet out of my purse.  I realized my wallet was missing from my purse within half an hour and immediately filed a police report and cancelled all credit cards, but it’s still a loss.  The thieves charged $2500 at the nearby Broadway Target within 20 minutes.

This man was working with the person behind me (who I did not see), who must have taken my wallet.  But another interesting item to note:  I SUSPECT that a post office employee is also in on it.

The female postal worker who assisted me loudly remarked, “That’s a nice purse!” when I was all done with my transaction with her, and I can’t help but wonder if she wasn’t tipping off her sidekicks that I had a wallet worth stealing, and that my purse was open at the top.  I will also mention that my purse is a very basic black purse, nothing fancy, so I don’t often hear people say things like “that’s a nice purse” very often about it.

I told all of this to the police officer that took my report, and he said based on the info, the postal worker could be in on it.  He said especially since she announced it at the end of the transaction, and not the entire time she was assisting me with mailing a package, buying stamps, etc.

I’m hoping you can push this info out to UU readers (especially women) to avoid someone having the same experience as me."

So watch out for this confidence game and its players.  We also advised the reader to contact Ald. Osterman's office about the crime, as well as to file a report with the USPS district manager about her suspicions about the postal worker.  We'd hate for it to be true, but better to be safe than sorry.

Update:  The woman who was pickpocketed went back to the Post Office with her husband tonight and spoke to the branch manager.  The branch manager is going to put in a request with the central Chicago post office for videotape of the lobby.  Thanks to the magic of receipts and debit cards, the exact two minutes following the window transaction were able to be specified and (hopefully) will be reviewed.

"Then my husband and I went to Target, and I gave them the half hour window that the 2 credit card charges took place (both from the same card, one for approx $600 and one for approx $1800).  The head security guard, who seemed pretty competent, took down my credit card number (I had it memorized), and said he would pull video later in his shift and burn it for the police.  He said he can’t give me the video, but he can give it to an assigned detective.  I asked him to at least call me to let me know that he had useable video (I have more faith in a company like Target to track down reliable video than the post office).

So now my next goal is to make sure a detective actually gets assigned from CPD.  I will follow up constantly to be sure this happens.

Thank you for getting the word out!  I do appreciate it, because hopefully others can avoid this kind of hassle."

26 comments:

  1. I believe that post office was one of the slowest in the nation a few years ago. Great, now we could have con artists working there as well.

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  2. Any cameras at the post office? Maybe these individuals were caught on video.

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  3. If not on the Post Office video, then what about Target's?

    If the police have a window of time (w/in 20 mins) that $2500 worth of merchandise had been purchased, spotting these criminal "masterminds" on store video shouldn't be too difficult a task.

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  4. she should call the postal inspectors direct.

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  5. It would be really great to get this information out on Everyblock... oh, wait.

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  6. a similar thing happened to me at Jewel at Broadway and Berwyn. Same people?

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  7. I have had countless letters come opened to my place and I live in this post office district. I filed a formal complaint to the post master general a couple years ago. I haven't had one in awhile. Needless to say the employees at our branch that I have had the pleasure to deal with our pretty incompetent to say the least. They wonder why they are in a huge deficit hole.

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  8. Similar scam happening with people wanting you to light their cigarette for them, and asking you what time it is and then doubting you.

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  9. I'm the son of a master con artist and this would have been an obvious and cheap ploy to rip me off and I would have just said "Call the fire department then" and went about my day.

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  10. Wow, slow and rude and now crooked... I hope this doesn't die down and I hope this woman loses her job and also loses more than that. You have a job and a decent paying one at that and this is what you do. Its no wonder they move in slow motion, they are too busy running scams

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  11. Well soon enough we won't need to worry about Saturdays.

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  12. Allegedly crooked.

    The woman who had her purse stolen suspects the woman behind the counter was in on it. No proof. It's up to the cops now, and the court system if they find evidence to charge her. Right now, she's not crooked.

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  13. The woman behind the counter did nothing wrong. She is a very nice person and always very helpfull. The thiefs are in the street.

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  14. I have a few questions since we want to believe this is just a big coincidence. (The loud compliment and the following theft). How long were the thieves waiting in the PO? Did they just get there and lucked out immediately? Were they hanging around awhile? If they just got there, wow lucky them or unlucky her. If they were hanging around, why were they able to loiter? Have any of the workers heard of this happening before? Did they notice anything or anyone unusual? Sorry I smell a rat... well an alleged rat

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  15. Really? Not suspicious? The woman says "NICE PURSE" really loudly and then suddenly the man and his accomplice move into place to relieve the victim of her wallet?
    Were you born yesterday?
    I stopped using this post office branch because there was always, always, always a person opening the door for others and expecting payment for that simple action. They cannot fathom that other people simply do not have the money to give to random people on the street.
    It's not about compassion, it's about being broke yourself.
    Read the Yelp reviews for this place, even the filtered ones. The whole lot of their lazy butts should be fired and they should hire competent people instead.

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  16. I've stopped using the Uptown Post Office because they were stealing packages.

    I do a lot of small-time eBay business. The items are low priced, so it's not financially feasible to purchase tracking/insurance. For about 7 years I used a suburban post office and in all that time, only one package never reached its destination. Over a 12-18 month period, I had SIX packages disappear at the Uptown Post Office.

    I have a cousin who has worked with USPS for years, and he assured me there's just no way that many packages fell through the cracks. He guaranteed someone there was stealing.

    For around 6 months now I haven't used the Uptown Post Office, and of course I haven't had a single package go missing. What a coincidence!

    I have no doubt that employees are stealing and part of scams. Aside from being the laziest, most unfriendly employees at any business I've ever patronized, they're crooks. Shocking. I'd bet my life on it. I'd bet the lives of everyone I love on it.

    We all need to just stop using that place. There are other post offices not too far away.

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  17. Everyone their are not crooks, just because their are a few bad apples, dont make everyone bad, just like at your jobs theirs a few people that should be fired, but do that make everybody their bad no . The whole thing sound fishes.

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  18. I definitely don't want to lump all the employees in one big basket. I just want us to be honest and call a spade a spade. There is just no way this could happen and an employee not be in on it. This is a small place, you just couldn't hang around, looking, waiting, watching for someone whose purse is open. You need another pair of eyes. In the least, if they were just hanging around inside the workers had to have noticed. I have a question for uptown postman.. say there's a really long line and there are only 2 windows open, yet we see people in the back just hanging around.. are certain people just assigned to certain tasks or should another window open?

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  19. @ Oafy.. I went there one day and this guy held the door for me and I didn't get to say thank you, because someone I knew was coming out and they began a conversation with me. However I saw him when I was leaving and I said, sorry I didn't get to thank you before,thanks. He was so rude and so pissed. After reading your post, I now understand why. It wasn't about the thank you at all. Wow

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  20. It's pretty cold hearted but you have to assume first that somebody lurking in a public place like that wants something from you, if they prove it later on that they weren't trying to play on your sympathy, then so be it.

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  21. With-in the post office their are plenty of camera recording all the time and they are in the front and back, so you are being watch, so nobody going to risk their job, but unfortunately you hope people would come and act repectfully like they would do when going to the supermarket, but for some reason going to the po. beings the bad out of people and thats not go and also the po. have craft employee that are qualify in sustain task, so when you see people walking around they are doing their task and are not qualify to man the window.

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  22. I recently received a half-opened letter containing a check. Unfortunately for them, it was only a rebate check for $0.50 from my bank. Curiously, someone wrote "Citi" on the outside of the envelope, like it had been flagged. I reported the incident and they promised to never, ever let it happen again. Ha!

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  23. Assisting or needing assistance from kind-hearted strangers is a common scam.
    At the former McDonald's express next to the Loyola el station, I often witnessed guys announcing to the diners what buses were arriving and expecting some sort of compensation for this service.

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  24. Hey @Oafy Made an Oaf

    "guys announcing to the diners what buses were arriving and expecting some sort of compensation for this service." IS NOT A SCAM.

    lols. That's just being creative.

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  25. What's so creative about loitering in a business where people spend money all day and trying to get some of it?
    That's called being a parasite.

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