MIDTOWN — A Plaza Hotel employee bilked eight people out of nearly $18,000 by promising them union positions in exchange for cash, police said.
The suspect, a 40-year-old man from The Bronx, told the six women and two men that his uncle was in a powerful union position before asking them to fill out paperwork and hand over copies of their identification and Social Security cards, the NYPD said.
The suspect then took separate payments of $3,950, $500, $1,000, $1,500, $1,000, $4,400, $1,997 and $3,500 from two 42-year-old women from Queens, a 51-year-old woman from Queens, a 51-year-old man from The Bronx, a 54-year-old woman from The Bronx, a 60-year-old man from The Bronx, a 58-year-old woman from Port Washington and a 67-year-old woman from Elmont, police said.
On March 1, after the victims still hadn't heard back about the promised positions, they went to confront the man at the hotel, where they learned that he had quit his job there, police said. They reported the scam to the NYPD the next day.
It was not clear in which union the suspect promised the victims membership.
Police didn’t say whether or not the eight victims, who lost a total of $17,847, also worked at the Plaza.
The hotel did not respond to a request for comment.
