A 93-year-old man walked out of a Costco in Northeast Portland at 5 p.m. on a May afternoon in 2024 and was back home by 5:30. Before he could get Visa and MasterCard on the phone, three men he never noticed had already run his stolen cards for hundreds of dollars in gift cards at a store a few miles away.
Portland police identified all three men within weeks, but Detective Jordan Zaitz, who worked the case, left a blunt message for anyone pushing a cart to their car. “Have your head on a swivel when you’re out in the parking lots, even when you’re inside stores, don’t leave your purse on the back of your chair,” she said.
The crew is not sticking to one town. Police have confirmed pickpocketing attempts at Costcos in Portland and Tigard, plus Washington cities like Kirkland, Puyallup, Tukwila, and Lynnwood. Detectives describe an organized ring working big box stores up and down the I-5 corridor, and they believe there are victims who don’t even know it yet.
How the crew works a parking lot
Surveillance video shows the three men loitering outside the Costco entrance, watching shoppers come out. When someone looks like an easy target, they fall in behind the cart and follow it toward the car. One woman had her wallet lifted straight out of her purse while she was loading bags into her trunk, her attention on the groceries and her back to the world.
With the 93-year-old, the men moved in a triangle formation from behind, a setup that boxes the target in and pulls his focus, then slid the wallet out of his left rear pocket. Police describe the suspects as well-dressed men, one an 18-year-old who stands 4-foot-9, the other two in their 30s and between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-10. Investigators think the same group has run the play in the Seattle area and has been at it a long time. They want anyone who was hit to call fast, because store camera footage only gets kept for so long.
They will take the necklace right off you
Not every version needs a bump in a crowd. In Waterloo, Ontario, an 85-year-old man was approached in a Costco parking lot by a man and a woman who struck up a friendly conversation. While he talked, the woman slipped a necklace off his neck, and the pair drove off in a white SUV before he understood what had happened.
That move has a name, distraction theft, and it works because it feels like a normal human moment. Crews usually run it in pairs or small groups near Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, and other packed lots, with one person talking and another going for the goods. One sheriff’s office warned that suspects sometimes follow victims home to finish the job. Their advice is simple: keep expensive jewelry covered or leave it in a drawer, never let a stranger drape anything around your neck, and be wary of surprise hugs or blessings from people you don’t know.
Gold bars bought on a stranger’s card
Costco sells one-ounce gold bars, and that makes the warehouse a favorite stop for thieves who already have your card in hand. In Beaverton, police tied three people spotted at a local Costco to a gym theft ring that lifts wallets out of lockers while members are busy working out.
Once they have a card, they race to stores like Costco and Best Buy and grab something they can turn into cash fast. In one case, the crew ran a stolen card for $18,759 in gold bars before the owner knew the card was gone. Police described those suspects as Eastern European men and believe they are connected to similar fraud across the western states. Real-time text alerts from your bank are the one thing that can catch a purchase like that while it is still happening.
It happens inside the store, too
The parking lot is not the only danger zone. Police in Burlington, Ontario fielded multiple pickpocket reports at a Costco on Brant Street early in 2026 and made an arrest. These people move quick.
A regular grocery run can go the same way. That purse riding in the top of the cart is the easiest grab in the building, and a friendly question about something on the shelf is all it takes to pull your eyes off it while a second pair of hands goes in.
The order email that is not from Costco
The trouble does not stay in the store. A newer trick starts with a Costco order confirmation email that looks completely real, right down to the branding and purchase details, because in some cases it actually is a real order email that has been forwarded to a stack of inboxes.
Shoppers describe the trap as buried in the shipping fields. The crook stuffs a fake message into the name or address line, something like “Order in transit, call to cancel,” with a phone number underneath. Call it and you reach a fake support agent who talks you into installing remote access software, shows you a bogus “overpayment” on your screen, then pressures you to wire money or buy gift cards to pay it back. Costco will never ask you to call a random number over an order.
Fake rewards and the membership threat
Inboxes are getting hammered with Costco-themed bait built to make you click before you think. The common ones: unclaimed cashback that “expires today,” a warning that your membership will be canceled unless you update payment, and offers of big gift cards in exchange for finishing a survey. Criminals also go after the Executive membership reward, since real members are actually waiting on that money.
There is a phone version, too. Callers spoof Costco’s real numbers and pose as its customer service, telling you a fraudulent account was opened in your name in China and that police are already involved, all to scare you into handing over personal information. One Michigan man was talked into wiring six figures that way. The real deal is boring by comparison: legitimate Costco emails come from addresses ending in costco.com, not a lookalike with an extra letter.
What actually keeps you safe
Zaitz’s fixes take about two seconds each. Put your purse in the car first, then load your groceries, or keep it on your body the whole time. Don’t hang a bag on the back of a chair at the food court; keep it in your lap. Men, move your wallet to a front pocket, or at least button the back one so nobody can dip it clean.
Police in other cities repeat the same short list: keep bags zipped and tight to your body, never leave a purse sitting in the cart, and if someone bumps or jostles you, check your pockets right away. Set up real-time transaction alerts with your bank so a strange charge pings your phone in seconds instead of after you get home. And if you clicked a bad link or gave up any info, change your Costco password to something you use nowhere else, turn on multi-factor login, and watch your card for small test charges.
These crews count on you being relaxed, distracted, and buried under a cart the size of a small car. That is the whole game. A little attention in the lot, a purse held close, and a wallet in your front pocket is what makes them skip you and wait for someone easier.
