A man who agreed to take two gold-colored necklaces from a pair of strangers ended up losing his own gold chain as a result, Naperville police said.
The man was loading groceries into his car about 11:45 a.m. Feb. 28 at the Patel Brothers grocery store on Ogden Avenue when he said a light-colored sedan stopped behind his vehicle, according to Naperville Senior Communications Specialist Kelley Munch.
A man in a white T-shirt who had tattoos on his left forearm rolled down his window to speak with the victim, presenting him with two gold-colored chain necklaces that he asked the man to donate to his church, Munch said.
After the victim agreed that he would, a woman described as being between 30 and 40 years old and wearing a blue jacket, got out of the car and asked if she could give the man a hug.
Later he realized that the gold chain he had been wearing was gone and likely taken by the woman, he told police.
“This is the first such crime we’ve had reported to us in several months, but (this type of scam has) been occurring sporadically throughout the region for the last several years,” said Munch, noting that Naperville police put out their first alert on the ploy in 2023.
The suspect typically will approach the victim while they are loading groceries or other items into their vehicle, according to a social media post from the Naperville Police Department. The person will interact with the victim in a friendly manner and offer them something like a piece of jewelry or an iPhone or AirPods that they’re wanting to give away or present as a gift, police said.
When the victim takes the object, they are distracted during an interaction and later realize that jewelry or a watch is missing and was likely stolen. What they’re left with is usually “worthless costume jewelry” or “broken or disabled Apple products,” police said.
Typically, the scheme involves two or more people. Children are sometimes used as a distraction, police said.
The last time Munch was aware of a similar case being reported to Naperville police was on Oct. 18. A woman had just gotten into her car in the H Mart store parking lot on Ogden Avenue at about 3:30 p.m. when she was approached by a woman who appeared to be in her late-30s to mid-40s.
The suspect opened her car door and began putting necklaces around the victim’s neck and touching her rings while simultaneously removing the victim’s own ring and necklace, Munch said. She then took off in a light-colored vehicle being driven by another person.
No arrests have been made in either case.
After the Naperville police posted a warning about the crime on social media, others responded by saying they also been targeted in such a crime or witnessed it happening to someone else.
One of them was Arlington Heights resident Margaret Murphy, who spoke to the Naperville Sun Monday.
“I stopped at a local thrift store in Palatine and had just walked in when an elderly woman with an accent stood by the front door and screamed, ‘Help me. This is not my necklace. Somebody stole my necklace and gave me this,'” Murphy said.
Murphy tried to help the woman by telling the cashier, who alerted the store manager, she said.
“As I checked out, I mentioned to the same cashier that I believed what happened to that woman and that I felt so bad for her because she was elderly, she had an accent, she was clearly distraught and her story was believable,” Murphy said, noting that she had seen similar stories on the Reddit website.
When she left the thrift store a few minutes later, she saw the elderly woman speaking with the police.
She said she was not surprised to see the Naperville police put out a message to let people know how to avoid being victimized.
“I was at least pleased to know that they were warning people and citing locations such as H Mart because I feel as though if people are more alert to the situation, then they will be more inclined to stop being polite and say, ‘Get out of my space’ and ‘No, I do not want your gift,'” Murphy said.
Naperville police advise residents to avoid taking gifts from strangers and to keep a distance between themselves and someone they don’t know when approached.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
