2 Theft Incidents Reported in Princeton

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The Princeton Police Department has reported two recent theft incidents in the area. On January 24th, a victim reported their backpack and wallet containing personal documents were missing after they believed they left the items in a Lyft vehicle. On January 25th, another victim reported a SIM swap identity theft incident where their phone number was transferred to another device without authorization, leading to attempted fraudulent account access and transactions.

Why it matters

These types of property and identity theft crimes can have significant impacts on victims, causing financial loss, disruption of personal accounts, and stress. The Princeton community will be concerned about the rise in these types of incidents and will want to know what steps the police are taking to investigate and prevent future occurrences.

The details

In the first incident on January 24th, the victim reported that their backpack and wallet containing personal identification and financial cards were missing after they believed they left the items in a Lyft vehicle earlier that morning. The Lyft driver confirmed a subsequent passenger had a bag matching the description, but could not provide any identifying information due to privacy policies. In the second incident on January 25th, the victim reported their cell phone unexpectedly lost service and entered SOS mode, indicating their phone number had been transferred to another device without authorization. The victim then discovered unauthorized access to their email and financial accounts, including attempted fraudulent transactions and a wire transfer attempt of around $10,000. Some of the unauthorized charges were declined or placed on hold by financial institutions, but the victim reported no confirmed monetary loss at the time.

• On January 24th at 9:48 p.m., the first theft incident was reported.
• On January 25th at 5:50 p.m., the second identity theft incident was reported.

What’s next

The Princeton Police Department is continuing to investigate both theft incidents to identify any suspects and determine if the cases are connected. They are also working with financial institutions to monitor the victim's accounts and prevent further unauthorized access or transactions.