LYNN — After a woman robbed an Asian man of his jewelry and $300 in cash Tuesday morning, police are alerting community members that there could be similar attempts in the next several months.
Similar robberies have been occurring throughout Massachusetts and as far as New York and New Jersey, according to Lynn Police Capt. Mark O’Toole.
Last summer, there were about 10 robberies with a similar pattern committed in Lynn and police expect the incidents to continue in the next several months.
The scenario is always the same.
A lone woman, typically a Romanian national, approaches an older Asian man, engages him in conversation and hugs him in some instances, and is able to remove his jewelry without him noticing what’s happening, O’Toole said.
Often, the woman replaces his valuable jewelry with worthless jewelry, which the victim doesn’t realize until after the encounter, O’Toole said.
It’s not the same woman committing the robbery each time, and police believe older Asian men are being targeted because it’s part of their culture to wear gold jewelry, such as thick gold chains, O’Toole said.
On Tuesday for example, a 63-year-old Asian man told police shortly before 11 a.m. that he was in the area of 23 Commercial St. when an unknown woman yelled to him from a nearby vehicle, O’Toole said.
When he approached the woman, she reportedly began to describe tragic events in her life, before turning to the topic of jewelry. At that time, she was able to remove his necklace and bracelet and replace them with worthless jewelry, O’Toole said.
The victim told police the woman then took his wallet, removed $300, and then fled the area in a car that was driven by an unknown man, O’Toole said.
Two other female passengers, in addition to the woman who committed the robbery, were also in the car, which was described as a four-door sedan with a yellow license plate, O’Toole said.
Vehicles used in the incidents are generally rentals with out-of-state plates, O’Toole said.
No arrests have been made in Lynn, but some suspects were arrested in New Jersey last year, O’Toole said.
“We just want to alert the public that it appears it may be increasing in the next couple of months,” said O’Toole. “We’ve done our best to alert our Asian community and our Latino community as well, so hopefully we can avoid some situations.”
