Transcript: Office Of Public Safety Holds Briefing On Public Safety In New York City

January 11, 2024

Watch the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esGNCDrBHWg

Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III, Public Safety: So, welcome, good evening. I'm Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, the deputy mayor for Public Safety for New York City. I certainly thank you for joining. For those of you who are watching it for the first time, this is a weekly briefing that we do to inform the public of what's going on from a public safety perspective.

We want to share as much information with you as possible. We want you to take this information back to your family and friends. We certainly want to learn from you. We want to know what you want to hear, we want to know what you're seeing out there as we look to craft our public safety apparatus to better serve the needs of this particular public.

The mayor has said it many times, he said it yesterday, he said it today, he's going to say it tomorrow, that public safety is the prerequisite, right, to prosperity in this city, and we will never, ever take our eye off the prize.

Today, so we have actually a pretty interesting briefing today. And with us, I have the Assistant Commissioner Carlos Ortiz from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Commissioner, good evening, thank you for coming.

We have Captain Spiro Papavlasopoulos. He is the commanding officer of the New York City Police Department's Crime Prevention Division. And Crime Prevention Division is a part of the Community Affairs Bureau. So, the NYPD is made up of a bunch of bureaus, community affairs is a bureau, under the bureau, they have the crime prevention division. And he is going to be sharing a lot of very helpful information.

We also have Inspector Robert LaPollo, the commanding officer of the NYPD's Auto Crime Division. And I really need you to really take a lot of heed to what he's going to say today, because as we know, last year it was a challenge with grand larceny autos and crimes associated with autos. And he's going to give you some information on how you can help yourself and help us help you protect your property.

And last but certainly not least, we're going to have Detective Sergeant Veronica Robles from the Sheriff Office, and she's going to be sharing some useful information.

So, what are we here to talk about today? We're here to talk about scams, a lot of scams that take place throughout this particular city. People are cheated out of their property, people are cheated out of their funds. And a lot of these scams have been around for a long time. And let's think about that for a second. A scam that's been around for a long time is only around because the scammers continue to find victims for their scams.

And we have to make sure we as government share this information with you, but you also have a responsibility. You have to learn, you have to practice this information. And what we say here is turn it over to F&F, a family and a friend. Tell at least one family member, tell at least one friend. Ask that family member that you spoke to to turn it over to one family member and friend and vice versa.

And that is a way that we can actually combat some of these scams, because think about who these scams are, right? I'm going to be very nice. I was told by my counsel that I need to choose my words very carefully about these scammers. But these scammers are people, they prey on our elderly. They prey on our youth. They prey on the generosity of our heart to steal our property and steal our money. So, we won't use any descriptor other than we need to put them out of business.

Some of these scams have been around a long time, we can have an impact on some of these scams. Some of these scams are new, and the sooner we get as much information out as possible, the better chance that we have in negating some of these particular scams. They've been around a long time, and they've been around a long time for a lot of reasons, one of which that we as a city, as a government have to continuer to do a better job at passing this information along.

So, when you hear this information today, and you're going to have some really good insights from our panel here, process it, think about it and pass it along. And do not… Let's have our goal, let us not be a victim of these particular scams.

Before we start, I just want to give a special shoutout to the Department of Aging who works very closely with us. And they are, you know, you look out for the older population. And just think about older population. When we get older, right, we don't process things like we did when we were younger. We might be more susceptible to these type of scams or individuals. And data people prey on them. They look to say, I'm going to look at this particular individual to victimize that. And we have to be our brother and our sister's keeper, and this is one of the ways that we can actually start to do it.

I don't want anybody being scammed, but when you scam someone who's worked their whole life and is in the twilight of their life, it's just not a good look also when we have our youth. So, we are, as a society, how we protect our less vulnerable, and this is what we're looking here to do today.

Last week, before we get started, Mayor Adams, NYPD Commissioner, Eddie Caban announced the overall crime statistics for 2023, which showed that crime was down as compared to 2022. And we know that statistics are not the only way to measure public safety in New York City, it is just one of our metrics. And I've often said this for years, the time that I was in law enforcement, that statistics don't mean much if you are a victim of a crime.

So, we are going to continue to push this year to have less victims, minimize them as much as we possibly can. The goal is to have zero victims. Some people say that that cannot happen. I'm going to say maybe it can, maybe it can't, but it should not stop us from looking to achieve that particular goal. And one of the ways is to make sure we share information.

So, you all have a responsibility with this. The more information we share, the more we're aware of our surroundings, the more that we become cognizant of what's going on, we increase our chances of continuing to be the safest city in the country.

So, with that, I'd like to turn it over to our Assistant Commissioner Ortiz to give us a brief overview of what DCWP does. Remember, a lot of people may not know exactly what they do, and I have the benefit, I've worked in city government for a very long time, never knew what they did.

And now that I do work with you, I get to understand it and a respect for what you and your agency does, so I want to make sure that you explain exactly what you do. But let's really get into the scams and exactly what we want our audience to be able to do. So, commissioner.

Assistant Commissioner Carlos Ortiz, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Great. Thank you. And thank you, deputy mayor, for the invitation to be here this evening to talk about our work. At the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, our mission is to protect and enhance the daily economic lives of New Yorkers. That means that we enforce consumer rights. If you've been deceived or been subject to unfair business practices, you can file a complaint with our agency.

We enforce worker rights, like your right to paid safe and sick leave, so you can take a day off to take care of yourself or a loved one. And you can't be punished; and in many cases, you should actually be paid, and, we offer free professional financial empowerment services to help support your financial health as New Yorkers.

Since the start of Mayor Adams' administration, we have helped deliver $315 million into the pockets of New Yorkers through restitution, debt relief and financial empowerment programming. Just today we announced the major resolution of an investigation into a used car dealership known as 26 Motors that secured more than $1.5 million in consumer restitution. This is the critical work of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Today, I would like to talk to folks more about the scams that the deputy mayor pointed out are impacting our fellow New Yorkers in the city. There are all sorts of scams where people try and get your money, your personal information from over the phone. You get a robocall, somebody offering free medical devices, free medicine. But there's a catch. You have to press through the telephone pad to provide your address, your credit card information, all kinds of very key stuff that can't be released.

The sweepstakes scam. You've learned that you won a big prize, but there's a catch: you have to submit money, send that money in before you can access that prize. The grandparents scam. You get a call in the middle of the night, a loved one needs help. They need money urgently, but only you can help by sending it in, And the law enforcement scam: a call from an officer… Somebody claiming to be an officer, somebody claiming to be from the local precinct that a loved one needs money, needs bail money or that you have a warrant out for your arrest and that you need to pay this warrant over the phone.

These are some of the examples of the scams that we have encountered. And I think the captain also has one [inaudible] here as well, that, let me throw it over to him quickly.

Captain Spiro Papavlasopoulos, Commanding Officer, Crime Prevention Division, Police Department: Absolutely. Hi, deputy mayor. Thank you for having me here today. I work for the Crime Prevention Division, and in the Crime Prevention Division, we are implementing a three‑pronged approach to these scams; the first one is community engagement; the second one is educating the public; and then, the third is effective law enforcement.

So I'm pretty sure everyone at a certain point has probably received either a text message or an e‑mail of someone expressing that you either owe money. But for me to put it a little bit better, I would like to give a quick example of one of the videos that we have of what a typical person might encounter when they receive that phone call.

[Audio plays.]

Captain Papavlasopoulos: Now, this right here is just a perfect example of just one of the scams of the phone calls that anyone may receive. Again, these type of scams, like the commissioner said, they prey on older adults. We ask the public to one, verify the phone call. Again, the other thing would be to ensure that the person that you're talking to is the actual person. But I'm going to give it back to the actual commissioner to give you a few tips on what to do in regards to these scams.

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: Thank you. And I think the number one thing that I like to tell people is that if it sounds too good to be true or too outlandish to be true, it's not true. If it's an urgent request, be very wary of those urgent requests.

And anything that's where they're asking you for their personal information, let me tell you, a bank won't call you or text you asking for personal information. Officers won't call you or text you asking for personal information.

Oftentimes, scammers can manipulate your caller ID. And it might seem like it's reputable, but it's not. You should never be giving strangers, people you don't know access to your banking information. So, when you do get these calls, remember, hang up the phone.

And let me add this, too. If you do need help, there are trusted professional resources paid for by the Adams administration that are run by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. These include our financial empowerment centers that offer one‑on‑one financial counseling but also can advocate for you if you've been a victim of a scam or can connect you with legal services.

Now let's talk about some scams related to taxes, because it's really that time of the year.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Let's stop there for a minute.

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: Oh, sure.

Deputy Mayor Banks: With the IRS scams. Let's think about this, right? One, the IRS is calling you for money. You know whether you owe the IRS money or not, right? You know that, right? They're mailing you literature, right?

So, do not, you know, I want to be very strong about that. Do not deal with this over the telephone. If you've gotten literature from them, then make an independent phone call on the literature that you received. Go to a local IRS office. This is something that we can put to bed right away.

We have had people who have been scammed on this who have paid their taxes, and they're getting an urgent letter, and because they're preying on the fear. So, we need you to relax, calm down and realize the IRS is not calling you up on the phone demanding that you pay money right then and there. If you get this, this will be a scam.

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: Thank you, deputy mayor. And I will add as well, too, that finances can be very scary in and of itself. And so those moments, we really do encourage people to bring any documentation you have, meet with a financial counselor. They're free and they're professional. So, again, I encourage folks to meet with our… To go to our financial empowerment centers.

Now, moving on to the taxes piece. My advice to folks is to remember that you have rights when you're filing your taxes, you have rights when you're using a paid tax preparer. And the big thing I want to point out to folks is avoid those tax preparers that are trying to get you into a refund anticipation loan, a refund anticipation check.

The way that these work is essentially they ask you to pay up front for a refund that's already yours, that's already owed to you. And ultimately, it leads to you losing out on vital money that's important for you and for your family.

And so let me just plug one more program that we do run at the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and that is New York City Free Tax Prep, a program where you can get your taxes done for free in New York City. You can avoid fees, you can avoid shady refund anticipation loans, and you can keep the entirety of your hard‑earned tax refund.

The next item I'd like to discuss are our card skimmer device scams. These are devices that are literally installed at point of sale terminals that capture data like your credit...data from your credit card, your debit card, your EBT card. And with this information, people can create clone cards, fake cards that take real money from your accounts. So, what I advise is when you're using your card, take a good hard look at the terminal you're using. Has it been damaged? Has it been altered? Are there scratches? Are things loose? If things look unusual, be very wary about that.

And to a point that the deputy mayor mentioned earlier, too, make sure you're following your bank account information. Are there withdrawals that don't make sense? These are important things that we can use for ourselves, tools that we can use for ourselves to ensure that we don't become a victim of a scam.

And the last thing I'd like to mention right now today is scams related to immigration status. There are businesses out there that can help you organize and translate your documents, but it's important to remember that they're not attorneys, and they can't offer you legal advice, and they should not be offering you legal advice about your immigration status. We often encounter illegal businesses sometimes called notarios that prey on false… On immigrants through false promises and through unsound, and frankly, dangerous, legal advice.

For example, there's something that's well known in our community called the 10‑year visa scam, where these people will tell you we can get you documented status. But what they don't tell you is that to do that they have to end up putting you in deportation proceedings. These things cost people tens of thousands of dollars, put them in very scary legal situations. So, be very wary of that.

In my experience, I've also seen situations where businesses offer folks IDs for ICE. These are obviously fake cards that they're offering in the public right now. They're not real government cards. And in our case, the Department of Consumer Worker Protection, we have brought real cases against businesses that have tried to defraud immigrants in these ways.

So, my tips on these situations, especially when it comes to immigration related work, be very wary of places where you don't have a physical brick and mortar location. Oftentimes especially in our immigrant communities you might have my cousin's friend's uncle provided me this advice. Be very wary of that if there's not going to a physical brick and mortar location where there's accountability at the end of the day for the business.

Avoid anybody who claims special influence with immigration authorities, because they don't have it, and avoid any business that's not going to give you a written contract and that's going to ask you to leave your original documentation with them.

And if you do have a complaint related to immigration scams, please bring them to our agency. We're happy to help you. And with that, I thank you for your time, and I'll pass it over to the captain.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Okay, so let's recap that for a second, all right? And think about it, to the public here. This is New York, right? I mean, we can't let people scam us like this, right? I mean, we are too sophisticated of a city to allow this.

So, you have somebody on the phone calling you asking you for money. You have the IRS demanding money. You having somebody who says I can help you with your immigration status. We are too sophisticated.

So, here's how I would suggest we look at it. If you got scammed once with this, it wouldn't happen again. This is the one time you're being scammed, with this education now. Let this be the education, but do not, and I repeat, do not let it stay with yourself. You have to call your parents tonight, your children today. Your cousin.

One person, family and friend, and pass this information on, because we are… New Yorkers are too sophisticated to allow these scams. They are supposed to hopefully go out of business but certainly, if not, leave New York City and New York State.

So, education is the key here because it's very difficult to apprehend these individuals. We do, we do a big effort and we do have some success. But ultimately, the biggest success in doing this is this. If somebody's calling you over the phone for money, the answer is going to be no. Do not do it.

If you're going into the bank, it takes a second. Check. Just check and look at it. You'll look to see whatever, give it a good look and a good shake before you put your card on there. You'll know enough about it to be able to determine if something doesn't look right.

And here's the rule: if it doesn't look right, if it doesn't sound right, if it doesn't smell right, nine of out 10 times, it's not right. So, we just need to be able to make sure. So, we are now going with who, captain?

Captain Papavlasopoulos: Yes, sir. So, our next type of scams that we typically see now that's been flaring up a little bit are our jewelry scams. Now, when it comes to jewelry scams, again, you have to remember a lot of these are geared to older adults.

And typically, the scam works like this. Preferably you look for someone that's waiting at a bus stop, and there's a vehicle that actually approaches. As soon as they approach the victim in that vehicle, the vehicle might be a little bit deceptive because they might even have kids in the back, which we've seen, typically in Manhattan a little bit but not the other boroughs.

At that point, the actual perpetrator will tell that older adult, that chain that you're wearing reminds me of a loved one that passed away, right away, triggering an emotion for that victim. And then the subject would then show them another jewelry and state, this is what my mother gave me.

Is there any way we can...you know, at that point they'll try to give him a hug; and during that hug and during that exchange is when the actual swap happens. Again, these are professionals. They do this for a living. 99.9 percent of the time the victim does not even realize there's a swap that actually took place until later on.

With these type of scams, three simple steps that we advise: step number one, keep your jewelry hidden, it shouldn't be exposed. Tip number two, since we've been seeing this through some crime data, do not approach any vehicle at any point, even if there's kids in the back and it might look like they might need any help. And tip number three, never allow the subjects to see your jewelry.

With that being said, I would like to go to a typical video that the NYPD was encountering with these scams.

[Video plays.]

Now, this is a scam that we've been seeing, again, this is broad daylight, they approach the victim. It's not even at night, so the actual victim feels in a sense that they're safe.

Let's going into the next slide, which is our new scam that we're seeing. And this one really hits home, because it involves teenagers. And this is, we call it the Venmo, Zelle donation scam, and what we've been seeing here is a group of teenagers ranging from 13 to 20 years old that approach the actual victim and state, can you please make a donation to our basketball team.

At that point, the goal of the actual criminals is to ensure that at some point they could get a hold of that phone, so as that victim is trying to donate $5 to their local basketball team, the perpetrators wind up taking the victim's phone and adding a few more zeros. We've seen a couple cases where some of these finances have been $2,500 some of them have been $5,000.

And again, just a simple, few simple tips with this. Do not give your phone to anyone. And I'm pretty sure sometimes we even as New Yorkers get approached by people on the street saying, hey, listen, I forgot my cell phone, is there any way… Or, my battery just died, can I use your cell phone to call a love one, because I need someone to pick me up and I have no money to pick me up. At that point they have full access to your phone. When they have full access to your phone, that's when they try to go into your phone.

So, we recommend, tip number one, add a two‑pronged security measure on your actual phone. And what that is either using a PIN code or possibly with new technology now facial recognition. The other thing is reporting the issue. What we've seen with our older adults, sometimes we feel embarrassed that this actual crime has happened. They feel very vulnerable and cannot believe that something like this can even happen, and sometimes these crimes go unreported.

Now, when they go unreported it just makes our investigations a lot more difficult. Again, prong number one, community engagement; prong number two, educating the public; and then prong number three, effective law enforcement. And what I mean by effective law enforcement is reporting the issue in a timely manner. That allows the detectives to go back out there to get video. And you know what? That allows the next person not to be victimized.

The second slide that I like to go to and talk about the gift card scams that we've been seeing. The gift cards games have a few variations to these scams, but typically what the perpetrators like to do with this scam is they like to go to establishments that have gift cards out in the open, that are open to the public.

And what these perpetrators do is they'll print their own security bar on it, and they'll place their own sticker in the back of the actual gift card. So, now when that victim takes that card off the rack and goes to the cashier to actually put money in that, when the cashier uses the scan gun it actually transfers that money to the perpetrator's account.

Now, what we advise most of our people to do is, one, if you're buying a gift card we preferably advise you to purchase a gift card that is not available to anyone just walking into the store, that is behind the counter. And then two, check the back, see if it's a sticker, see if you could scratch it off. The actual numbers in the back have two different types of barcodes. The barcode on the actual card should match the barcode on the actual barcode itself.

Now, with that being said, we've been conducting trainings with a lot of our retail stores and our major retail store thefts and educating the staff members to start identifying some key indicators on fraud. So, a lot of major retail stores know that if anyone is trying to step out of the office or step out of the establishment and purchasing a lot of gift cards, that could be an indicator for them to say, wait a minute, what are you trying to do? If anyone requests you to pay with a gift card, it's a scam, in that total.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, hold on, let me ask you. Just hold on. These scams are getting really sophisticated, huh? They're going into places where you can buy a gift card off the rack and they're actually putting their barcode on an existing card?

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Banks: You take it up, you want to reload it, and now you're actually reloading the… 

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: As soon as they scan the actual code it's scanning to their account.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Right. And now you think about that, right? That's a very sophisticated, it's one that I haven't heard of up until very recently. They're getting good at this. So, the bad guys and the bad girls here, right, is… Our general counsel's here, is that a good word I can use, bad guys and bad girls? I can't use the word that I wanted to use to describe them, so I'm using bad guys and bad girls.

They are actually, they are, they're getting good at this. They're training. And for us to be able to combat that training is to pass the information along. So, I'm going to keep saying this throughout the duration of this: we have to take this information we have to pass this information on. Other than that, then we're going to continue to have our families and our friends victimized.

So, I just, that's a very interesting one. And it seems like, you know, every month there's a new sophisticated scam that comes out and we will never, ever be able to completely turn the corner on this unless we keep this information and this intel and pass it out.

So, we're trying to distribute it. I promise you that from a government perspective we will continue and we'll try to do a better job of getting that information out to you. And once we pass that ball on to you, you have to take it, process it and continue to pass it on. And I thank you for that.

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: So, I'd like to go to the next slide and I would like to talk about ATM scams a little bit. And there's different variations to these ATM scams that we've been seeing in the city. Now, one of the type of ATM scams that we've been seeing is the actual subjects or perpetrators are coming in in teams of two, possibly three, possibly four.

So, what they do is they wait for the actual victim to enter the vestibule where the ATM is at a local bank. At that point, when the victim is using the ATM machine, the perpetrators will drop some type of currency on the floor, engage the actual victim and say, excuse me, but I believe you actually dropped some money on the floor. At that point, the other person who's involved with the scam is looking over the shoulder and trying to get that PIN code information or even possibly swiping out the actual debit card.

So, with this type of scam what we're seeing is we've seen people up to four to five people involved in one scam where as the victim is using the actual ATM machine their perpetrators are online waiting or acting like they're next in line to use the ATM machine. And what they're doing is they're just distracting the actual victims. With that, we have a few tips with that. One, be aware of your surroundings. I mean, before you put your ATM card in and put that PIN code in, you should look around to see if anyone's there or anything is suspicious.

Touching back with the commissioner, with these skimming devices on ATMs we've been seeing, so a lot of our work is co‑related and it overlaps in some senses. And we've been seeing that some of these ATM scams, they're actually getting very creative now as far as we've seen certain MCU branches where the actual perpetrators are installing interior scanners where as soon as you put your debit card, you won't even see it, there's no machine. It actually reads it internally when you put in the actual card.

Deputy Mayor Banks: That's the card into the machine; or, is it the card into the door to get into the… 

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: So, they're skimming devices, but the skimming devices that we're seeing, I mean, the old skimming devices that we are familiar with are the ones that are either attached outside, but the new skimmer devices, they're actually attached inside. They're able to put in some type of mechanism where it's unnoticeable to the eye. And as you're trying to withdraw that money, all your information is being stolen right there.

Now, leading into the next slide, where our next slide is the flat tire theft. Yes. We'll wait for that, we'll pass it on to the commissioner and then we'll touch back on that as well.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, we're coming back to the flat tire?

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Okay.

So, we're going to talk about the key fob. Okay, this is a really interesting one. So, please, you know, this is very interesting. So, inspector, right, you're going to tell us about what these criminals are doing as far as key fob [inaudible].

Inspector Robert LaPollo, Commanding Officer, Auto Crime Division, Police Department: Yes. Thank you, deputy mayor. Thanks for the opportunity to inform the members of the public about this new scam that we've come across, or a method of theft where key fobs are being duplicated by savvy car thieves.

Car thieves are able to carry sophisticated equipment that allow them, once they break into your vehicle, to program a new key fob to the vehicle. What that does is essentially make your key fob — the one that came with the car — absolutely useless, it will not work on the car. What it does is give the actual keys to your car to the thieves now at this point.

And the way that they're doing this is they're tampering with a diagnostic port that all cars have which is located on the interior of the car just underneath the steering wheel towards the left, usually. And they'll carry blank key fobs with them. They use a sophisticated scan tool and they program keys once they have access.

So, it behooves members of the public to make sure that they are locking their vehicles so that the thieves that actually just pull on car doors to see if they have easy access, that they don't gain access to do this, perform this act.

The car thieves generally have to use some sort of force to get in. They'll either break the door lock or break a window to get in, and that's how they're gaining access. In the past, we've seen many cars being stolen by our neighbors leaving keys in the vehicle and key fobs, and I'm happy to report that last year we saw a 40 percent decrease in that type of theft.

So, we're not leaving our keys in the car so the car thieves are getting more creative, and this is the newest way that they're getting access to the vehicles.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, think about this, right? So, when the inspector says that there's a 40 percent decrease in people leaving the keys in the car, it's good, but we're not all there. You know, until we get to zero percent. And I know that it's convenience and comfortability, right? You don't have to stick the key in anymore, we put it on our dashboard or we put it in a cupholder. End of the day, we get out, we forget.

We're saying, don't forget. And how do you not forget? I don't know. Don't forget. Be repetitious, I'm going to say it, don't forget, don't forget, don't forget. So, we're down 40 percent, we want to be down 100 percent, we want to be down 1,000 percent.

But even when we moved our pawn, the bad guys and the bad girls are criminals, they're now coming up with something else, and now they're coming up with these devices that if they break into your car they can actually.

So, this is going to be a continuous effort. We have to stay ahead of it. And once we figure out a way to combat that, they're going to come back with something else. And then that's fine. We're going to always have to stay above the bell curve. Is there any particular car that they're targeting; or, is it just a wide variety of cars?

Inspector LaPollo: It initially started with most Honda vehicles but it's now expanding out to many of the newer model vehicles. So, there's not one particular vehicle now that they're targeting.

There are a couple of tips that I can give you to prevent this from happening. Like I said, make sure you secure your vehicle. They also, if you look online you can find, it's called an onboard diagnostic port lock which you can place over this electronic connection and keep the thieves from accessing it.

And also we've been recommending steering wheel locks on most cars to prevent that thieves from actually trying to break into your car. It makes it more difficult for them to steal, and they move on to the next car.

Deputy Mayor Banks: And that's what we, you know, years ago, right, when we were young officers in the police department, there was a lot of steering wheel locks. And then they seem to have gone away because it became a little more difficult to steal vehicles. But the criminals didn't go away, right? They just regrouped there, right?

So, this OBD port lock mechanisms, we're suggesting that you look into this, because see whether you can purchase one to be able to protect yourself. We don't want you to leave the key fob in the car. We know you don't do it intentionally, but we need you to be more cognizant of it. We need you to pass this information. And I know I have done that oftentimes, just forget to lock the door.

Inspector LaPollo: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, we need to make sure that we lock the door as well. So, we can put up a bigger and better shield to this than we have been doing, and we can do it together. All right? So, that information, please take heed; and once again, pass it on. Captain, are we going back to you, or are we going to Sergeant… We're going to… 

Captain Papavlasopoulos: To add to the inspector's key fob. Just so, you know, the community affairs bureau is actually also giving out free steering wheel locks throughout the city. Any car that fits certain criterias based on our crime data, so we review our crime data. I think everyone knows our Hyundai and Kia initiatives have been going on city wide. We've been giving out Apple Air Tags and steering wheel locks.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, how does someone who's listening now and believe that they're in need of the steering wheel lock or this key fob, how should they go about?

Captain Papavlasopoulos: So, we've taken the show to the road. We actually conduct biweekly per borough depending on our crime data. We have a recent one that was just yesterday in the confines of the 101 and the 100 Precinct. But for anyone that is looking for more information on key fobs, steering wheel locks and even scam material, our NYPD crime prevention site offers the public free downloadable material that anyone can use to educate their loved ones.

Deputy Mayor Banks: And that site is what?

Captain Papavlasopoulos: Crime prevention… NYPD at crime prevention.

Deputy Mayor Banks: NYPD at crime prevention. Okay. So, now we are going to be talking about deed fraud. So, sergeant. And you think about this, like somebody's stealing the deed to your home. I don't know how much worse it can get than this from just a scam perspective, so. Sergeant, let us know what we're dealing with and then certainly let the audience know exactly what they could do to put themselves in a better position to minimize this.

Detective Sergeant Veronica Robles, Police Department: Of course. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Banks, for having us. My name is Detective Sergeant Robles, and I work with our bureau of criminal investigations that handles investigations in deed fraud since 2014 for the New York City Sheriff's Office.

What is deep fraud, we ask that, right, and how does it occur? Deed fraud occurs when someone takes the title to another person's home without the owner's knowledge or approval. Two of the most common ways this occurs is forgery where the scammer fakes the signature of the deed; or fraud, where the homeowner signs the deed over to the scammer without realizing it.

An increasing concern is the heir at loss game or partition of heirs where investors acquire a fractional interest in the property then force a sale or buy out the other living heirs.

The sheriff's office began investigating deed fraud in 2014 with referrals from city registrar's office. Since we've been involved, we've now expanded efforts for a more coordinated approach and we now work with the attorney general's office, all of the district attorneys to combat the deed fraud trends such as the heirs of law identity theft and foreclosure schemes. In 2019, the attorney general's office solidified a deed fraud task force to address these complaints in collaboration with our agency and the district attorney's office.

Who is at risk? Risk factors include properties that are not covered in a will, have not been probated, rightful owner rightful owner is deceased, property in financial crisis and the elderly. To minimize some of the risks for deed fraud, we encourage the public to sign up for notifications through the ACRIS website, which notifies the deed holder of the property of any new documents filed on their property. Third parties to receive ACRIS notifications as well. Make sure that your property is covered in a will and that your property is kept in good financial standing.

In 2014, there were over 450 deed fraud complaints city wide; and since then, we've implemented safeguards. Because of these safeguards, in 2023 the complaints have now gone down to 51 deed fraud complaints city wide.

In November of 2023, Governor Hochul signed a new law that will give government agencies more tools to combat deed fraud and to help reinstate the properties to their rightful owners. Deed fraud is something all homeowners should be aware of, and we will continue to educate the New Yorkers so they can protect themselves of this type of fraud. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, you said, so the heirs that they target, that the house is not in the will, right? You said probate or no probate?

Sergeant Robles: It had not been probated.

Deputy Mayor Banks: They have not been probated. Financial difficulty, the owner's deceased, I think you also said?

Sergeant Robles: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Okay. So, those are the common areas that's it's taking place.

Sergeant Robles: Correct.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, corrected [inaudible], like right now, and I just want everybody to think about it just for the audience now, your parents, or your aunt, your uncle or older cousin who's living in their home and may have owned at home for 30, 40, 50, 60 years. They may be up there in age and they're in the eighties, et cetera. Those are the people that they're targeting. We need to get this information to them.

So, we're suggesting that if your house is left in a will, you minimize the chance of it happening. Is that correct?

Sergeant Robles: Correct. Correct.

Deputy Mayor Banks: If you can stay out of financial difficulty, you minimize the chance of it happening.

Sergeant Robles: Correct.

Deputy Mayor Banks: We'd like to be able to say if the owner wasn't deceased, but we can't do a lot about that. And you also mentioned probate, right? The house is not in probate.

Sergeant Robles: Not in probate.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Not in probate. Okay. So, we went down from, what was the number that we started in 2014, to 51 complaints?

Sergeant Robles: 450 in 2014.

Deputy Mayor Banks: To 51 now.

Sergeant Robles: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, this is just an example, a prime example how some real good progress was made. We need to get this, like, I love to be… Well, at some point during this January of next year, it is zero complaints. Like, this is something that we can like almost completely eradicate, this particular process here, and part of it is us getting that information out.

And once we get [pointed] to you, you need to take the ball and you need to run with it. So, if you even suspect that it's happening, please call it in because we want to make sure we get an accurate count and then we want to make sure we aggressively, we will aggressively go after the criminals who are looking to prey on our less fortunate.

But you have to help us get, share this particular information out. If you think about it, you've owned that home for 30, 40, 50 years. Oftentimes it's paid off or close to being paid off. And somebody comes in because they want to be a thief and forgery and they just steal the house from the family. That's something that we cannot tolerate.

So, while we're happy the number went from 450 to 51, we'd be ecstatic when we get that number down to zero. And this is something that we absolutely can get down to zero if we work together on that one there, so. Okay.

Question: Yes. So, my question is for the deputy mayor. Thank you for having me. I'm [inaudible] Chinese language edition. So, speaking of public safety…

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Okay. Yes. So, it's public safety. So, how do you think about retail theft number of 2023, because it is still more than 100,000 cases according to NYPD's report.

Deputy Mayor Banks: How do I feel about retail theft?

Question: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Banks: I'm not sure I understand your question, so just repeat it so I can try to understand it.

Question: So, according to NYPD's report, the petty larceny cases is more than 100,000.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Um‑hmm.

Question: And you are leading retail theft task force.

Deputy Mayor Banks: Um‑hmm.

Question: So, how do you think about the number, and do you have any new strategy to address retail theft?

Deputy Mayor Banks: Okay. So, the first thing is I feel about it, I feel bad. But I would feel bad if there was one, right? So, I've been in this business for a very long time, I don't allow statistics to just be the perception. I want the particular numbers to go down, and I want to make sure it's going down.

So, we have, retail, the task force, we've made a lot of progress in this. We have the owners that's talking, we have a portal that's coming together. Some of the numbers could be because we're jut doing better report taking at it. So, I don't use the numbers, as I said earlier when we first started, as the sole indicator of whether or not we are moving in that particular progress.

But I actually think that we're making a lot of progress there. Actually, the person who's spearheading it from our office is actually sitting right behind you. We have store owners talking about this, there's a lot of communications about that. Hopefully that I think the governor addressed this in her State of the State. I think you'll be hearing more coming about it from the city. So, until we get down to zero, right, I'm going to feel the same way: bad. But I also feel confident that we as a city are going to be making a lot of improvements in this particular area. 

Question: I do have another question for Assistant Commissioner Ortiz. So, regarding the immigrant related scams, what's the trend since 2022 summer until now? What's the trend of immigrant related scams?

Assistant Commissioner Ortiz: Well, I think a priority for us is making sure that people know that they can come to our agency when they do have complaints. And I think especially when considering the many new New Yorkers in our city not really recognizing the different levels of government that can help them.

So, for us, our number one priority is to make sure that people know they can come to us. They can… Of course, they can call 311, but they can also call us directly at (212) 436‑0186. They can also e‑mail us at communityaffairs@dcwp.nyc.gov. We really want to work with our newest New Yorkers to ensure that if they are victims of scams that they have a ready resource system.