A Santa Clarita man who said he was ripped off after a professional crew stole from him by vandalizing his car in a multistep ruse outside a local bank wanted to warn others to be careful of their surroundings and who they trust.
His story sounds like a new type of “bank jugging,” which is on the rise based on bank alerts and news reports from across the country.
The crime involves a suspect or suspects who follow someone from a bank based on whether the person appears to leave with a large deposit, based on warnings posted by several credit unions.
Typically, the thieves will then follow someone who appears to be carrying a large amount to their destination, and if the person is alone, either use coercion or violence to steal the deposit and anything else desired.
Peter Warda described an operation that involved more sophistication and less violence, but the start and end result were the same: an expensive cash withdrawal he had just made was stolen from his Tesla.
There was only one other person in the bank, he said, which did not seem to be busy that afternoon.
“So I will say that I think it was just a matter of them just watching people walk out of the bank,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “And I think that’s what it was. So they must have been out in the parking lot.”
Warda described the encounter in a NextDoor post that also demonstrated a bit of sophistication from the thieves that indicated it wasn’t “their first rodeo.”
After he left the Wells Fargo branch on The Old Road and checked the mail at his office, he backed his car out and heard a hissing noise, then felt his car drop to the ground.
Within seconds, he said, a man in a construction vest, hard hat and sunglasses appeared to offer help.
“We were at the back passenger side of the car. He kept pointing and saying, ‘OK. OK. OK. It’s OK. OK,’” Warda wrote in the post, adding the man acted as though he didn’t speak much English during their conversation. But Warda was under the impression the man was going to help him get his tire changed as he walked away.
“He motioned his hand for me to unscrew the tire air cap. And kept saying, ‘Yes. Yes. OK. Yes. It’s OK.’ All of this was in a very loud and commotion type way that was just confusing me at the time. After about a minute of this, he said to me, ‘OK, good, be back.’”
The man never returned, and Warda eventually got back into the car to risk driving on his flat to get to Jiffy Lube so he could leave his car somewhere safely overnight, when he realized his bank deposit had been taken.
Not only that, he also realized there was a 20-minute gap in the footage from his car’s camera system — which was deleted in less than a couple of minutes while he was distracted.
A July warning from the FBI warned the public about jugging in Baltimore that ended more violently. In the last week, the term popped up in news reports in North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and Florida.
Warda said the whole experience just made him want to warn other people, which seemed to resonate with others. Nearly 80 had responded to his Tuesday post by Thursday morning, with almost another 150 reactions.
“Thank you for sharing your terrible experience,” wrote Isabel Gonzalez, a Saugus resident. “It is definitely heartbreaking. I’m sorry this happened to YOU and yes, it can happen to any one of us.”
The federal government offered these tips to help prevent bank jugging:
- Take note of anyone who is suspiciously hanging around in the lobby or parking lot and does not appear to be occupied.
- Try not to be distracted while in a financial institution. Avoid being on your phone, wearing earbuds, etc.
- Before leaving the counter or ATM/ITM after receiving cash, secure it in a different bag (other than the small zipper cash bags or envelopes utilized), such as a briefcase or purse.
- Lock your car doors when you get into your vehicle.
- Do not leave large amounts of money inside your vehicle.
- Notice if any vehicles follow you out of the parking lot and make sure you are not being followed.
- If you believe you are being followed from a financial institution for any length of time, call 911 or drive to the nearest police station or fire/EMS station.
