Three men who visited a New York City gay bar were robbed of thousands of dollars using facial recognition access on their phones, the New York Police

Patrons of NYC gay bar incapacitated and robbed of thousands via facial recognition on their phones

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2023-02-03 23:30:05

Three men who visited a New York City gay bar were robbed of thousands of dollars using facial recognition access on their phones, the New York Police Department confirmed on Thursday.

The three men, who were in their late 30s and 40s, visited a Chelsea gay leather bar, The Eagle NYC, on separate nights in October and November and were each robbed of $1,000 to $5,000, according to the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information. 

Police believe the criminals used facial recognition to access the victims’ phones and funds once they were incapacitated, according to Capt. Robert Gault of the city’s 10th Precinct, who spoke about the incidents at a police community council meeting last week.  

“What we think is happening with this scheme is they’re being lured away from the club, maybe to say, ‘Hey, you wanna come with me? I got some good drugs,’ or something like that,’” Gault said. “And then, once they get into a car to do whatever it is that they’re going to do, at some point or another, they don’t know what happened when they wake up.”

A 19-year-old female and a 42-year-old male who were visiting a New York City bar that is not affiliated with the LGBTQ community, Hotel Chantelle, were also robbed in November and December by the same group of criminals, a police spokesperson said. 

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