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NYPD's handling of complex fraud cases, including those involving transient criminal groups
2:18:44
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Assistant Chief Jason Savino provides an in-depth explanation of how the NYPD handles complex fraud cases, particularly those involving transient criminal groups targeting the elderly.
- Savino describes a case involving Romanian travelers who move from state to state committing fraud
- The group's modus operandi includes using minivans, props like babies, and targeting elderly individuals for jewelry swaps
- NYPD's success in handling such cases relies heavily on collaboration and liaisons with other jurisdictions
- The department made 25 arrests related to this specific group in New York alone
- The importance of tracking patterns and piecing together information from multiple jurisdictions is emphasized
Jason Savino
2:18:44
I think you've been hearing a theme all day.
2:18:46
Right?
2:18:47
It's about collaboration and liaisons.
2:18:50
And that's what we have with the detective bureau without it.
2:18:53
We're not going to solve crimes.
2:18:55
We've been talking about these scams over and over again.
2:18:58
We spoke about these travel groups.
2:18:59
I'll give you one more example.
2:19:01
Okay.
2:19:01
We have Romanian travelers.
2:19:03
Now what do they do?
2:19:04
They go from state to state to state.
2:19:07
They'll stay in that state.
2:19:08
They usually go about 15 cars at a time.
2:19:11
They'll stay in that state and commit crimes in that state for one day.
2:19:15
And then move on.
2:19:16
What does that do?
2:19:16
What makes it transient?
2:19:17
It makes it very challenging to track unless you have liaisons.
2:19:22
You're not gonna catch these individuals.
2:19:24
You're not gonna be able to track them.
2:19:26
So we had a group of about 15 that ultimately would come in every other week.
2:19:31
We tracked it.
2:19:31
It was every other Tuesday by chance.
2:19:34
And they would come in, and they would do jewelry swaps.
2:19:37
Now what is that?
2:19:38
That's essentially and and they would once again, pull it to heartstrings.
2:19:42
All these scams come as a ruse of somebody that's really patient and good to you.
2:19:47
Right?
2:19:48
So they would come in a minivan a male driver, a female in the back.
2:19:54
They would even use a baby as a prop.
2:19:56
Mhmm.
2:19:57
And what that does is it distracts you.
2:19:59
They would target exclusively the elderly.
2:20:01
They would go into neighborhoods with predominantly elderly people.
2:20:06
And what they would do, they would look for individuals with jewelry.
2:20:09
And they would ride up right next to them and they would call them over and want we spoke about it before.
2:20:14
You know?
2:20:15
People want that human interaction.
2:20:16
Right?
2:20:17
So people would go up willingly.
2:20:18
They go up close enough.
2:20:19
They say, oh, you remind me of my grandmother, you know, something to that effect.
2:20:23
I have to bless you.
2:20:24
Can I bless you?
2:20:25
Now who's gonna say no to that?
2:20:27
And what they would do is say, come over here.
2:20:29
Let me bless you.
2:20:30
And they would say, I have I have a blessing.
2:20:32
I wanna put it on you.
2:20:33
It's a necklace.
2:20:34
Mhmm.
2:20:34
And then they would put that on and then take the necklace off.
2:20:37
And we were seeing this trend over and over again.
2:20:40
And once again, it does have a successful end ending.
2:20:44
We made 25 arrests on that, and that's in New York alone.
2:20:47
But without the liaisons that we without being able to track these individuals, without being able to put those pieces together, we don't make these arrests because we just have a couple of pieces to the puzzle.
2:20:59
But they were countrywide.
2:21:01
When they were going from state to state to state, And without having our liaisons, all of our networks, we don't make it happen.
2:21:10
So we work exclusively and and with with other individuals regularly.
Crystal Hudson
2:21:17
What's your you've shared a a lot of great success stories.
2:21:21
I'm just curious to know what percentage of the total open cases or cases that have come to the department do those account for?
2:21:29
So how many cases have not been soft.
Jason Savino
2:21:32
Yeah.
2:21:33
I I I don't have that number with me as far as a total caseload.
2:21:37
Obviously, we're talking about the most predominant scams that we're seeing.
2:21:41
There's many other scams
Crystal Hudson
2:21:42
out there.
2:21:43
Yeah.
Chris Banks
2:21:43
It
Crystal Hudson
2:21:43
would be helpful if that's something you all could follow-up with just to to give us a sense of the percentage of success rates and where we still have work experience.
Jason Savino
2:21:53
I appreciate that.
Crystal Hudson
2:21:53
Informing people.
Jason Savino
2:21:54
Thank you.
Crystal Hudson
2:21:55
Because I think so much of what you're sharing are they're so elaborate, these scams, and people may not think anything of somebody offering to give you a blessing, like you said, who would who would turn that down.
2:22:08
But if if people are more aware of these types and the roofing stuff and all of that, I know it might be specific to certain neighborhoods, but that doesn't mean that the next neighborhood in another part of the city might not fall victim, you know, afterwards.
2:22:21
So it'd be helpful to know sort of like where where we have some of that work left.
Jason Savino
2:22:26
Appreciate that.
Crystal Hudson
2:22:27
When officers respond to a call where an older adult is the victim of some non financial crime and assault, for example, Our officers trained to ask questions about the older adults financial situation, in other words, is it might one, you know, gain some insight from if somebody's coming in to report one particular type of crime, does the department sort of ask questions if it's an older adult specifically about and try to look for other opportunities for vulnerability?
Josh Levin
2:22:56
Yes.
2:22:56
Not only are they trained to actually engage holistically with the the victim, and what do you mean what I mean by that is trying to identify whether it's physical or emotional or financial abuse.
2:23:09
And we educate the recruits to some of the factors, the symptoms, which would indicate to you that this person is suffering from XYZ.
2:23:17
So the caregiver is refusing to be forthcoming with information when you're trying to get some basic information from them.
2:23:23
You're seeing bruises on the person.
2:23:25
Mhmm.
2:23:25
The person is unable to explain random changes in bank activity or depletion of funds.
2:23:32
So we teach our recruits to take a organic view of the whole thing and then to help connect that person with the services necessary and how to even interrupt if it's an abusive guardian or family member what that person can do to extricate themselves from that situation.
Crystal Hudson
2:23:48
Great.
2:23:48
And then how does NYPD prioritize cases of elder fraud compared to other types of fraud?
2:23:54
Or or do you prioritize elder fraud?