Paramus Police Search For Suspects Targeting Women While Shopping In Supermarkets

PARAMUS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Police in New Jersey are warning women to keep an eye on their handbags while they shop.

Suspects have been scouring the aisles looking for that next swipe, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported.

A pickpocketer dressed in black walked away with an elderly shopper's wallet on April 1 in one Paramus ShopRite. The victim told police the suspect's partner had been distracting her with small talk.

Four days later, a man and woman dressed in black strolled through the same market. Police believe they were in search of an unsuspecting victim, and once they find her, a partner dressed in blue comes in.

The man pretends to shop for nearly ten minutes before the aisle is clear enough to strike, and he almost gets away with snatching a wallet from a shopper's purse before a security guard catches him and he flees.

"We're always focusing on groups that come through here doing this, but unfortunately the pattern isn't always the same," Det. Thomas Shroeder, of Paramus Police Department, told CBS2.

Detectives do not think these crews are connected and said grocery stores with big, busy crowds are easy targets.

"That's normally what they're targeting, people who are distracted, people that have other things going on... maybe your cellphone is ringing anything like that," Shroeder said.

Police said the easiest way to avoid falling victim to one of these schemes is by not leaving your purse in a shopping cart, but rather holding onto it. If you've been to the supermarket lately, you know pocketbooks sitting in carts are a pretty common sight. Police want to change shoppers' habits.

They also advise using a bag with a zipper to make it harder for predators to reach in.