LONG ISLAND CITY — More than 14 tenants who moved into the city’s massive new affordable housing complex at Hunters Point South last year have become victims of identity theft — but the project’s developer waited more than three months to notify the rest of the tenants about the issue, even after quietly hiring a private investigator, DNAinfo New York has learned.
The Related Companies sent a letter to the complex’s 925 units on Tuesday warning them to monitor their financial accounts following a spree of identity thefts reported by people who began moving into the complex last May.
"We have been informed by a number of Hunter's Point South residents that some of you with Chase checking accounts have experienced incidents of fraudulent charges and attempted theft of identity in connection with those accounts," Related's property manager, Mel Redzematovic, wrote in a Mar. 8 letter to tenants of the Long Island City waterfront complex.
“We are communicating closely with detectives from the NYPD’s 108th Precinct who are investigating the cause, and they are encouraging all residents to monitor and evaluate their bank and credit card statements,” Redzematovic added, saying Related would offer free credit monitoring for a year to anyone living in Hunters Point South Commons at 1-50 50th Ave. and Hunters Point South Crossing at 1-55 Borden Ave.
“While there is currently no indication that there has been any unauthorized access of our building systems, we are taking this issue very seriously,” Redzematovic’s letter continued, “and management has retained a private investigator to assist the NYPD in the investigation of this issue.”
Related officials confirmed that there have been 14 reported victims of identity theft from the buildings to date who have Chase accounts. Sources said that there may be more ID theft victims who live in the building but it was not immediately clear if their issue was related to the wider problem.
Captain John Travaglia of the 108th Precinct confirmed at a public meeting on Tuesday that police are investigating what he called a “concentration” of grand larceny incidents in the two buildings relating to bank fraud.
Tenants have expressed outrage at Related's slow pace in warning them about the problem, saying that they knew about the problem since last year, but chose to leave tenants in the dark.
"Building management refuses to share this with tenants," one identity theft victim wrote Mar. 3 in a private Facebook forum created for tenants at Hunters Point South Commons and Crossing, adding that his Chase account was drained of thousands of dollars. "Since they won't I thought I would."
Nearly a dozen other victims of identity theft who live in the complex also came forward online, saying that the problem dates back as far as last fall. One woman reported $600 taken from her account for a Lyft ride, while a number of others posted that they'd been victims of fraudulent charges as far as Ohio.
One person posted that within a few days of signing their lease in October 2015, which included turning over personal and bank information, someone tried to open two fraudulent credit cards in his name.
Related finally sent out a warning letter on Tuesday, four days after a meeting with the tenants association and the same day that DNAinfo reached out to the complex’s tenants’ association for comment on the ID theft. The tenants association did not respond for comment.
More than 90,000 people entered the city’s housing lottery last year for a chance to live in the two buildings — which feature high-end amenities like a gym, a yoga studio, a barbecue roof deck and a 2,300-square-foot organic farm with a honey-producing beehive.
These first two properties will be part of a much larger waterfront complex aimed for low and moderate-income families.
Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the country, according to the NYPD.
Richard Watts, a tenant at Hunters Point South Crossing, said residents shouldn’t jump to conclusions or blame management for the breach.
“It could have been the post office, it could have been anything,” he said.
