More victims of ‘wobbly tire’ scam come forward

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Albuquerque Police Department is warning the public about a man pretending to help people with a “wobbly tire.” After our initial report on the scam, more victims have come forward to share what happened to them.

Jane McIntyre says she recently had her purse stolen after a man told her he would help her with a wobbly tire.

“He opened my trunk and was saying, where’s your jack? Where’s your jack?” McIntyre said. “And he lifted up the lid to the trunk that’s on the floor, and he kept saying, where’s your jack? And I said, I don’t know.”

This happened last Friday in the Uptown area near the Trader Joe’s parking lot. McIntyre said there were two little girls with the man. She says the girls must have reached into her car on the other side while she was looking at the tire – grabbing her purse before she even knew what was going on.

“Immediately I started getting charges from my credit card companies,” McIntyre said. “I have like four credit cards, and they attempted to use every one of them.

APD is still working to find the scammer.

“My unit, my burglary team is actually working that case,” said APD Commander Kyle Hartsock. “Some tips have come in, we have not made arrests or charges. But we’re feeling positive, we’re going to have this person and persons identified soon.”

Another woman reached out to KOB 4 saying she was almost a victim.

“Somebody in the right lane was blowing their horn at me,” said Patti Schodt. “So I put the passenger window down and I said, yes? And he said, your tire is wobbly. And he’s pointing down at my front wheel.”

Schodt said she didn’t stop, but she wanted to warn others after seeing the initial reports. She said the man who targeted her had light brown hair and was driving a silver car – that’s different from the suspect police described.

Police described the scammer as a short, skinny Hispanic man in his 40s driving a white sedan or a U-Haul truck.

The two women say they have both filed police reports.