Shomrim Facilitates Sting Operation That Leads To Arrest of Scammer Who Assaulted and Robbed Two People Wednesday In Crown Heights

by CrownHeights.info

It was a sting operation for the books. A scammer looking to extort a previous victim found himself the one duped Friday after Crown Heights Shomrim facilitated a sting operation that led to his arrest.

As previously reported on CrownHeights.info, two Crown Heights men, doing nothing more than using the Eastern Parkway pedestrian island to get around, were assaulted and robbed Wednesday in a disturbing broken bottle scam that turned violent.

The scammer, spewing curse words and threatening the life of his victims, had demanded one of the victims phones during the assault, taking the victims phone number along with a large amount of cash. The reason he wanted the victims number became apparent on Friday. He wanted to victimize his previous victim again.

Reaching out through WhatsApp, the scammer claimed to have been injured in the incident and demanded thousands of dollars from his victim, saying he was coming with his lawyer to collect payment. The extortion included violent undertones with the scammer claiming to be a relative of a police officer.

The frightened victim called Crown Heights Shomrim who explained to him that this too was a scam, but it was also an opportunity to dupe the scammer.

In contact with the NYPD, Shomrim facilitated a meeting point between the Jewish victim and the scammer, arranging for a large number of volunteers and police officers to be on hand as soon as the scammer was identified.

The perp arrived and approached the victim, and within a matter of seconds was in handcuffs and in the back of an NYPD patrol car.

Within a matter of hours the scammer went from being the scammer to being the one duped, and is now facing multiple charges including Assault and Grand Larceny by means of extortion.