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Regina police say alleged credit card thieves are targeting seniors as they buy their groceries and pick up their drugs.
In an emailed news release, police said that a group of two or three people have allegedly victimized seven different seniors in the city, dating back to September at grocery stores, drug stores and department stores.
Police point to similar patterns across all seven incidents.
As victims were purchasing their items in line, they felt a person behind them was sidling up, standing too close and eyeing their credit card PINs.
“Once outside the store, the same suspect calls out to the victim, saying that a $20 bill on the ground must have dropped accidentally from the victim’s wallet,” the release said. “The victim turns, distracted and the suspect insists on helping to put the $20 bill into the victim’s purse or wallet.”
Police said that’s when the theft of the victim’s credit card happens.
Six of the seven victims are women; all of them were in their 70s or 80s.
Two of seven times, suspects distracted victims as they were in their cars, claiming something was wrong with a rear tire, which prompted the victims to get out of their cars.
There’s some variance in the description of the suspects; police said it’s sometimes two middle-aged men, and sometimes the men are accompanied by a young woman. Victims said one of the men speaks with a heavy Eastern European accent.
The first three thefts happened on Sept. 13, followed by one on Sept. 14.
Then they picked up again this year on Jan. 31, Feb. 11 and March 12.
The thefts happened in Harbour Landing, on south Albert Street, on Prince of Wales Drives, on Park Street and on Rochdale Boulevard.
The specific locations are 4200 block Albert Street, 4500 block Gordon Road, 2100 block Prince of Wales Drive (twice), 3800 block Albert Street, 3900 block Rochdale Boulevard and 2000 block Park Street.
Anyone with information about the thefts should call Regina police at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers.
