Crooks Seized on Opportunity in Recent Sandy Springs Crimes

The following was provided by Sandy Springs Police Capt. Steve Rose.

On April 17, a man reported that while he was working out at the LA Fitness, on Roswell Road, someone went into his unlocked locker and took a $350 watch and $350 cash.

On April 16, an employee at Hearth Pizza reported her purse stolen. She normally places the purse on a shelf in the back of the restaurant. Later, her card was used in transactions totaling more than $700 at Marshall’s in Dunwoody.

On April 16, the manager of the Office Depot on Roswell Road said two women came into the store to purchase 17 Visa Gift Cards. Management activated the cards and at the time of payment, the women attempted to use another gift card for the purchase. This is not allowed.

The women got angry and threw the newly activated gift cards to the ground. Seconds later, they picked them up and returned them to the cashier and left the store.

Later, the cashier learned the women had substituted the non-activated Visa Gift Cards for the activated ones they now had in their possession. The cards, valued at $3400, were later used at a Wal-Mart store in Madison Tennessee.

The cashier said the two women were in a car with Tennessee tags on them so after the bait and switch, they took off north and spent the cards as fast as they could.

On April 12, A woman reported that she connected with a man online when she searched for help in removing the search program, Bing, from her computer.  He told her he could remove the program but he needed remote access to the computer. The man also said the computer was about to crash and he could fix it for $200.

After she paid the man, the woman discovered he changed her passwords, locking her out of her own computer. He accessed her banking and personal files. To date, she has not seen any fraudulent activity but has changed her financial information. As of April 12, she had not seen seen any fraudulent activity but has changed her financial information.

On April 6, a woman said she was using the self-checkout lane at Kroger, located at 4920 Roswell Road, and accidentally left her iPhone on top of the checkout machine. She forgot and left. When she returned, the phone was gone. The store video showed a man who was in the checkout behind her placed his personal property over the phone and then took everything and left.