On December 30th, in what's sure to become an ad for Chase Mobile, a woman used her bank's smartphone app to track down her stolen credit card. She was enjoying a meal at Mother Burger in Hell's Kitchen at around 10:45 p.m. when she noticed that her purse had gone missing from the back of her chair, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney.
Armed only with her cell phone, the tech-savvy theft victim logged onto her Chase Mobile app and saw that her credit card had just been swiped at a Mexican restaurant uptown, DNAinfo reports. So she headed up to El Porton Mexican Restaurant on Broadway near the 125th street 1 station and called 911 when she discovered the two women drinking on her dime.
According to the complaint, Sarfowaa Boachie, 21, and Vanessa Guillierno, 23, said they used the card to buy drinks, but hadn't stolen it from Mother Burger — rather, they said they found it in a taxi. Police found the woman's purse inside one of Boachie's bags. When the women weren't able to pay for their drinks without the stolen card, they were charged with theft of services, on top of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree. They'll go to court on February 3rd.
In a statement provided to DNAinfo, Chase touted the power of mobile banking:
"We are glad that our quick-thinking customer used the Chase Mobile app to catch the thieves and, more importantly, that she is safe and got her belongings back. As a reminder, customers are not liable for any unauthorized transactions and they can easily keep track of their accounts by setting alerts through the Chase Mobile app or at Chase.com."
