CROWN HEIGHTS — Police in the neighborhood want you to keep an eye on how you use your credit and debit cards amid a recent spike in identity theft cases in the area.
Grand larcenies, which include identity theft cases, have risen more than 50 percent in the past month within the 71st Precinct, which covers southern Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, according to the NYPD.
NYPD statistics through Feb. 19, the most recent available, shows there have been 42 grand larcenies in the past four weeks in the precinct, up 55 percent from the 27 cases reported in the same time period a year ago.
And in the past month, about 80 percent of those grand larceny cases are due to identity theft reports usually involving debit and credit cards, sources said. Most common are cases where someone’s card number is “skimmed,” or stolen, using a device attached to an ATM machine, sources said.
“Identity theft has become the number one crime affecting our community,” the precinct said in a Feb. 17 email sent out to residents about the trend.
That message and recent tweet from the precinct included recommendations for protecting against identity theft. Tips include pulling on card readers on ATMs to make sure a skimmer hasn’t been placed over the real card slot, covering the keypad with your hand as you type in your PIN and double checking bank activity frequently.
Help protect yourself against Identity theft and credit card fraud #safety #IdentityTheft #fraud pic.twitter.com/kCWn1gpuOd
— NYPD 71st Precinct (@NYPD71Pct) February 20, 2017
The grand larceny spike stands out amid the other six major crime categories, which show crime overall has remained fairly level in the precinct compared to last year. Reports of major crimes have risen just three percent in the 71st Precinct, year to date, from 162 reports in 2016 to 167 so far in 2017, NYPD CompStat data shows.
