Two Woman Share Exactly How Thieves Tried to Steal Their Purses in Kingston, NY

One was lucky enough to stop them, the other wasn't so lucky with the thieves using her credit cards and fraudulently charging them with over $13,000!

The first attempted theft took place at the Home Goods location in Kingston and the other took place at Mother Earth's. Both women are hoping by sharing their experiences, the thieves will be caught.

This week has been a busy one for purse and wallet thieves in Ulster County. We told you earlier this week that police are looking to locate two suspects that have allegedly been stealing purses and wallets from distracted shoppers in the Kingston, NY area.

The thieves' latest attempt at stealing a purse from a distracted shopper took place on Saturday at the Home Goods in Kingston. The shopper, who asked to remain anonymous, told us that while she was shopping at the popular home decor store in the Kings Mall on Ulster Aver in Kingston, she stopped two suspects from stealing her purse from her shopping cart.

Here's What Happened

She told us that while she was shopping, a female approached her and started to ask her questions through Google translate, someone who doesn't speak English will use the app to translate from one language to another. And while she was distracted trying to help the female, another suspect swooped in and tried to take her purse.

She explained that she had her back to her shopping cart and her purse was in the cart but she had the long strap around her wrist, and while she was distracted by the female, a male approached, and as she turned around, she saw that the man had put a beach towel over her purse to cover it up. Her turning around startled him, and he pretended to be reaching for a gift bag across from her cart she said.

Her action startled the thieves enough that the male immediately went in one direction while the female went in the other direction. She told us that she went right to the front of the store assuming that they were going to be leaving the store soon. Within a minute, the male left the store (without the beach towel and gift bag) and the female exited a few minutes later. She did capture a few pictures of the couple as they left the store....

She did contact the police to report what happened and the officer that responded told her that this has been happening a lot recently and the pictures she took matched the ones that others have reported. She ended by telling us that she simply wants to get the word out so that this type of crime doesn't happen to anyone and if it does, please report it to your local authorities.

Thieves Charged over $13,000 on Stolen Credit Card

Another woman shared with us that while she was shopping at Mother Earth's in Kingston on Friday, March 25th she wasn't as lucky as the thieves got away with her wallet and within 15 minutes of stealing it they had already gone to the Walmart in Kingston and racked up over $13,000 in charges. She posted online that surveillance camera footage showed it was the same couple. She also shared that all the charges that were made to her cards were going to be reversed by the card company and that she also wanted to share her experience as a warning to other shoppers.