FBI: CT residents ripped off by more than $600 million over three years. What thefts ranks highest?

Connecticut residents have been ripped off by more than $600 million over three years through property crimes, according to the most recent crime statistics available from the FBI.

The data, from 2020 through 2022, shows that car thefts continue to represent the overwhelming majority of thefts in the Nutmeg State when looking at their property value.

During the three years, car thefts represented about $336 million worth of all larcenies reported in Connecticut — which totaled about $625 million, the FBI reports. The numbers broken down show that just under $112 million worth of cars were stolen in 2020, followed by just shy of $111 million the following year and nearly $114 million in 2022.

In those same years, Connecticut as a whole reported just under $215 million worth of thefts, a little more than $194 million and just over $216 million, respectively. The FBI notes that data it uses is from all “law enforcement agencies” submitting 12 months of complete property/circumstance data, and that, based on “supplemental data supplied by law enforcement,” the agency computes “value-lost totals for the crimes of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.”

Law enforcement has attributed a rise in car thefts in recent years to vulnerability issues with vehicles manufactured by Kia and Hyundai that had flaws that were exploited through social media posts, which showed simple ways to steal them using something as basic as a USB cable. Far too many people also leave their keys in their vehicles or their ignitions on when they run errands, said Mike Lawlor, associate professor at the University of New Haven Criminal Justice Department.

Lawlor said most cars stolen nowadays are recovered by police, albeit sometimes with damages, unlike 30 years ago when vehicles were frequently smuggled out of the country on large cargo ships. Most stolen cars now are used for a limited purpose like stealing another car or committing a different crime, he said. The FBI data shows that in 2022, vehicles valued at $61 million were recovered in the state.

“Stolen cars are always the largest category of stolen property by value,” Lawlor said.

According to the FBI — which collects data from the Uniform Crime Report that is generated with numbers from law enforcement across Connecticut — firearms stolen in 2020 totaled just over $256,000, just shy of $310,000 in 2021 and a little over $215,000 the following year.

Clothing and ‘furs” accounted for a little over $2.7 million worth of larcenies in Connecticut in 2020, more than $3.2 million the following year and more than $3.7 million in 2022, the FBI reported.

The agency further reported that a little over $2 million worth of consumable goods were stolen across the state in 2020, just under $1.6 million in 2021 and a little more than $1.7 million in 2022.

About $1.8 million worth of office equipment was reported stolen in Connecticut in 2020, followed by just under $2 million and about $1.7 million in 2021 and 2022, respectively, according to the FBI.

Electronic equipment like TVs, radios and stereos accounted for just over $810,000 worth of property stolen in Connecticut in 2020, followed by about $778,000 in 2021 and $578,000 the following year, the FBI reports. About $723,000 worth of household goods were reported stolen in 2020, which was followed by about $1.5 million the following year and $827,000 in 2022.

According to the FBI data, thefts involving various forms of currency rose dramatically in Connecticut during these three years. Those numbers jumped from a little over $15.3 million in 2020 to more than $29.6 million in 2021 and a staggering $37 million the following year, the FBI reports.

Lawlor said the rise could potentially be attributed to an increase in phone and email scams that have become increasingly easy for criminals with technological advances.

“A lot of the scamming that takes place these days takes place online,” Lawlor said. “People have figured out some really ingenious ways to scam people.”

Lawlor, who previously served as former Gov. Dannel Malloy’s undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning in the Office of Policy and Management, said phishing scams have “become a real problem” and that many of them are initiated from outside of the country, making them difficult to prosecute.

“People are being scammed all the time,” Lawlor said.

“Some of these increases you’ve seen recently are based on the fact it’s become easier to do this stuff, it’s easier to do scams,” he added. “It’s easier to disguise your phone number, it’s easier to call here from Nigeria and make it look like the call’s coming from West Hartford.”

“Using AI, it’s easy to replicate people’s voices. It sounds like you’re talking to your nephew, but you’re really not talking to your nephew.”

According to Lt. Ryan Deane of the Newington Police Department, these types of scams for years have preyed on people by claiming to represent a utility company that is going to turn off your power if you don’t send money. They have also been known to make claims that a family member or loved one needs bail money or is being held captive in exchange for a ransom.

But more recently, Deane said, authorities have been receiving more complaints about individuals who are approached by someone on a social media platform or a dating website, often posing as a young woman. Through the scam, the fraudster convinces the victim to send a compromising photo of themselves that they wouldn’t want to be shared with others, according to Deane.

At this point, the scammer abandons the ruse of being a potential dating interest and immediately demands a ransom in exchange for keeping the photo private.

“Once they get (the photo) then they tell you ‘If you don’t wire me $200 right now, I’m going to send this to all your family, all your teachers, all your social media friends,” said Lawlor. “It’s extortion.”

“We’ve seen numerous cases like that,” Deane said. “It’s been around for a few years, but I’d say there’s probably an uptick in it recently.”

“People need to be on guard,” Lawlor added. “You can’t fall for this stuff. People are going to exploit it every chance they get.”

According to the FBI data, currency wasn’t the only property crime category that saw a dramatic shift over the past few years.

The theft of jewelry and precious metals went from a whopping $49.5 million in 2020 to about $9.5 million the following year and just over $17 million in 2022, the FBI reports.

Lawlor said these numbers could be reflective of an overall drop in burglaries throughout the state in recent years.

He also noted that larcenies in general since the early 1990s have steadily been on a downward trend nationally and in Connecticut, with the only major blip occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the state consistently has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

Lt. Aaron Boisvert of the Hartford Police Department noted that burglaries in the city are down about 46% so far this year.

Though it would not explain the dramatic drop in jewelry and precious metal thefts in 2021, Connecticut, in July 2022, put tighter restrictions on the sale of catalytic converters, a common item stolen from cars for the valuable metals it contains. Scrap yards can no longer take a catalytic converter unless it’s attached to a vehicle. Otherwise, they need to affix a number to the converter, ask for the seller’s driver’s license and complete other requirements. The data show property valued at $65 million was recovered in 2022, about the same in 2021, and $67 million in 2020. In all three years, most of the value was attributed to recovered vehicles.

“Now you need to keep a record of who brought what in, you need to ask for ID, so if it turns out you got stolen property we can figure out who you bought it from,” Lawlor said.

“It is worth noting that reportedly catalytic converter thefts have started to drop significantly in Connecticut,” Lawlor added.

Though Hartford police do not specifically track catalytic converter theft numbers, Boisvert said he has noticed that these types of thefts are down across the city.