Scammers targeting elderly victims at Upper East Side banks, police say

UPPER EAST SIDE (WABC) -- Police allege that at least three scammers stole thousands of dollars from elderly victims at banks on the Upper East Side.

The NYPD says that on nine occasions, the suspects used distraction tactics to swindle victims out of a total of $66,400 from seniors' bank accounts before fleeing.

"I am very embarrassed about what happened to me. I always thought I was very aware," said 93-year-old Penny Zorn.

Last Thursday, she went to deposit several checks at her bank on East 86th street. The machine wasn't working. A man suddenly approached, advising her to try another machine.

That's when her card was swapped.

"I still don't understand or remember him taking my card, but he pushed it in to the next machine, I thought. But it wasn't my card. It was a copy of the blue card," Zorn recalled.

The scammer stole $1500 from Zorn.

"I always thought I was alert and not stupid, and that I knew where I was, and that nobody was near me. How that happened that day, I do not know because I've always been aware," Zorn told Eyewitness News.

Police have released photos of three suspects, but there may be others involved in the scam.

Zorn says the man who hustled her is not in the surveillance photos police obtained.

Police are asking for the public's help in identifying their suspects.