A burglar broke into a condo on the 300 block of Lathrop Avenue, stealing $100,000 in cash from a couple’s dresser.
On June 27, at 7 a.m., the couple left the condo, with the husband going to Chicago to pick up products for their store. On the way to the store, the husband stopped by the condo to grab a lunch for his wife. Upon entering the condo at 11:30 a.m., he saw that the unit has been rummaged through, with the closets emptied and all the boxes opened.
The couple kept the $100,000 in cash in the bottom drawer of their dresser. As they explained to an officer, they previously sold a condo in Chicago, used a portion of the proceeds to buy their current unit and stashed away the rest. The only other item that was stolen was a necklace with a square-shaped charm.
Forest Park police did not find any damage to the door which suggests the burglar either used a key or a “slim card” to get into the unit.
There was a surveillance camera in the building lobby, but police had not reviewed the footage at the time of the report.
Identity theft prevention scam
A resident of the 300 block of Desplaines Avenue lost over $42,000 to scammers who posed as Federal Trade Commission employees investigating fraud.
On June 28, at around 10:30 a.m., the victim got a call from an individual posing as an Amazon employee who said there was a charge on her account. After she denied making the charge, she was told to speak to individuals who identified themselves as FTC attorneys. The scammers said she was a victim of identity theft, but that they needed to investigate her to verify that she wasn’t part of the scam. They said that, as part of their investigation, they needed to take her money and store it in a “federal security locker” until the investigation is complete, and that they would send her a portion of her money to cover her living expenses. The scammers also claimed that federal law forbade her from talking to anyone about the investigation, and that hanging up on the call could lead to her being arrested.
The victim transferred $42,189 to the account that she thought belonged to the attorneys. She also gave the scammers a copy of her driver’s license, a receipt for money transfer and her bank account’s routing number. They told her that they would call her back the following day to “continue the investigation.”
Forest Park police advised the victim to block all unknown numbers and showed her how to report fraud to legitimate entities.
Burglary from vehicle
A man living on the 1000 block of Desplaines Avenue found that his car was broken into overnight.
On June 29 at around 6:55 a.m., the victim went to his car to drive to work and saw that the car was rummaged through, and his change and wallet were missing. He left the car parked after returning home from work at 4:30 p.m., but he left the door unlocked.
The wallet had his drivers’ license, credit cards and $90 in cash. At the time of the report, checking his accounts didn’t show any attempts to use the credit cards.
The victim was advised to cancel his cards.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, June 27-30, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
Compiled by Igor Studenkov
