Store Clerk Victim: Cops May Have Photo of Thief

Update 5:18 p.m., Monday:

The victim in the Feb. 16 theft at Darien Toy Box tells Darien Patch that she estimates her loss in the theft of her wallet as about $2,500, and she says police have a surveillance photo of a man trying to get into various stores through their the back doors.

"Police told me somebody had seen a man going from door to door," at about the time the wallet was stolen, she said. The victim, who also works for Patch, said that when she discovered her wallet missing, "the back door was open—I never used it."

The back door of the store was later found to have been pried open, she was told. If that's the case, the larceny of her wallet may be related to a recent string of burglary attempts involving pried-open back doors to businesses in town.

She also thinks an associate of the thief may have posed as a customer of the store, then slipped into the back to open the door for the man. She recalls one customer asking about a particular toy but not knowing even roughly the age of the child who the toy was supposedly meant for. When the victim was helping other customers, she looked back and the customer was gone.

The victim doesn't think she lost much from credit cards because her accounts were frozen, but her bank debit card was also taken, and she lost about $800 from that. She also had store gift cards in the wallet and the wallet itself, made by Prada, was a Hannukah gift worth $590.

She said her cards were later used (or attempts were made to use them) not only at Dress Barn in Norwalk, but at Marshalls and T.J.Maxx stores, as well as a gas station and a Subway restaurant.

Darien police have told her they have video surveillance from stores that they'd like her to see, but in the week since the theft she hasn't been called back to view them.

Editor's note: See also: "How to Prevent Credit Card Theft and Identity Theft"

Original article, Sunday: "Darien Store Worker's Wallet Stolen, Credit Card Used":

A wallet was stolen from an employee of Darien Toy Box after she left it in a back room at the store, then someone tried to buy things with credit cards from the wallet, police said.

Darien police gave this account of the matter:

On Saturday, Feb. 16, the worker went into the back room to get her wallet from her pocketbook. She had last seen the wallet when she left the store to make a purchase at 9:30 a.m. and then returned to the store.

The wallet only held about $6 in cash, but there were credit cards inside, and someone tried to use one of them twice at a Dress Barn store in Norwalk (both transactions were declined).

Another credit card was used at a Dunkin Donuts store in New York City.

Editor's note: Credit card theft from a wallet is probably the simplest identity-theft scheme, but here's some advice found on the Web about avoiding identity theft, from various online sources:

"How to Prevent Credit Card Theft and Identity Theft"