East Hampton
A man walking two dogs inside a gated property on Wildflower Road was seen at about 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 looking into windows at the house and turning doorknobs. A police report was filed on Friday.
Police were called to investigate a fraudulent scheme involving a Morrell Street resident and a phony village police officer last Thursday. The resident got a call around 10:30 a.m. from someone claiming to be with the Social Security office in Texas, and was told that his Social Security card had been compromised and there were pending charges against him. To avoid charges, he was instructed to buy five Google Play gift cards in the amount of $200 each and send photos of them to a number provided. He went to Walgreen’s in Bridgehampton, purchased the gift cards, and sent them to the number. A few hours later, he was contacted again and told to take all the money out of his bank account and take it to an address in Amityville; if he did not comply, said the caller, the East Hampton Village police would go to his house and arrest him. He withdrew $7,500 from the bank, and soon received a call from a phone number that is associated with the village police. The caller claimed to be an Officer Andrews and said to bring the money to Amityville. At that point, the man became suspicious. He went to the village police station instead, where he was informed there is no officer by that name and no one had been trying to contact him. Town police were notified. While an officer was taking the information, another call came in from the scammers. This time, a real police officer got on the phone and identified himself. The call was immediately disconnected.
East Hampton Village
When a small bird, possibly a yellowtail warbler, was trapped under a Jeep whose driver stopped on Gingerbread Lane just before noon on Dec. 2, an East Hampton Fire Department chief who was driving down the street came to the rescue. With traffic backing up, he used a small stick to coax the bird out. Since the bird did not appear to be injured, the chief let it fly away. The Jeep driver was thankful for the help.
A Capital One bank employee received a call from someone requesting her Social Security number last Thursday. She did not give any information, but wanted the incident documented.
Montauk
A window in a room at the Sea View on Lincoln Road had several cracks in it when a guest checked out on Dec. 1, according to the management. Wen Ying Gamba said he noticed a dog bed was propped up against the window when he went into the room to do turndown service on Nov. 30, one day after the male guest checked in. He did not wish to pursue charges, but said he planned to charge the credit card on file.
Sag Harbor
On Dec. 2, between 7 and 9 p.m., an iPhone 11 Pro Max was taken from a restaurant on Bay Street. It is worth $1,000.
On Dec. 4, an envelope containing $9,000 in cash was taken from a car parked on Main Street between 7:15 and 11:15 p.m.
Springs
A resident of Isle of Wight Road fell victim last month to a fraudulent scheme on eBay. On Nov. 22, he supposedly was the winning bidder for a 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck. He made arrangements with the “owner” for a $30,000 wire transfer through People’s United Bank, and received, via email, a promise of delivery, a copy of the truck’s supposed title, and pictures of a truck. On Nov. 26, he received a fraud notification from eBay. The company recommended he file a police report.
Wainscott
A man claiming to be “Nelson Wallace” rented a white 2019 Land Rover sport utility vehicle from Hertz at East Hampton Airport on Oct. 16 and never returned it. Michael C. Norbeck, the owner/manager, filed a report on Dec. 4 after learning that other vehicles, rented using the same fraudulent credit card, had been stolen from other Hertz locations, outside town police jurisdiction. He said the man presented a Delaware driver’s license.
Police were called to the Speedway convenience store on Montauk Highway on Nov. 21, a day after a man stole a can of Red Bull. The store’s surveillance footage showed the man shoving the can into a pocket of his cargo pants, walking out to a pickup truck, leaving the can inside, and then going to the gas station’s bathroom. Mustafa Ketencioglu of Port Jefferson, who works there, confronted the thief, who he believes has stolen from the store in the past. He took cellphone photos before the man drove off in a Chevrolet Silverado.
