A stranger crept up behind a 33-year-old woman outside a Santander Bank branch on 31st Street in Astoria and tried to rip the necklace right off her neck — but she kept her chain, and the would-be thief ran off with nothing. Police say the attempted robbery happened around 8 p.m. on August 6 in front of 22-59 31st Street, and now NYPD Crime Stoppers is asking the public for help tracking down whoever did it.
The attack unfolded near the elevated subway line along a busy commercial stretch close to Ditmars Boulevard, according to Shore News Network, which first reported the case. The bank branch itself sits in a building originally constructed in 1952 for the Long Island City Savings and Loan Association, according to Queens Modern. Police have not released details about what led up to the encounter, and the woman was not injured, per NYPD. The suspect fled on foot in an unknown direction after failing to pull the necklace free, and the case falls within the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 114th Precinct.
A Pattern of Chain-Snatching Across the Precinct
This is not the only necklace-related street robbery Astoria detectives have chased down this summer. Just a week after the botched attempt on 31st Street, detectives from the 114th Precinct opened an investigation into a separate incident on August 13 in which a young chain-snatcher successfully grabbed an expensive necklace off an elderly woman on a residential Astoria street, according to QNS.com. It remains an open question whether the same person is responsible for both incidents or whether the August 6 attempt was an isolated, opportunistic grab.
Hoodline has tracked several similar cases in the neighborhood this year. In July, NYPD Crime Stoppers sought a suspect who ripped a necklace off a 70-year-old woman near Crescent Street, and later that month, investigators went looking for a trio accused of beating a man and stealing his necklace and bracelet elsewhere in the precinct. Similar jewelry-targeted robberies have also turned up recently on the Upper West Side and in East Harlem, suggesting the tactic has spread beyond Astoria this summer.
Crime Trends and What Happens if the Suspect Is Caught
The broader numbers paint a mixed picture for the precinct. NYPD crime statistics analyzed by Patch show major crime across the 114th Precinct — which covers Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside and Jackson Heights under Inspector Seth Lynch — dropped by more than nine percent in the first two months of 2026 compared with the same stretch in 2025. Even so, officers recorded localized upticks in sex crimes and transit offenses during that period, the outlet reported.
If detectives identify and arrest a suspect, the attempted snatching could carry real legal weight. Under New York Penal Law §§ 110.00 and 160.05, attempting to forcibly steal property from someone without causing injury or using a weapon amounts to attempted robbery in the third degree, a Class E felony. Had the thief succeeded in pulling the necklace free, the act of taking property directly off a victim's body would have qualified as fourth-degree grand larceny under Penal Law § 155.30(5) — also a Class E felony, punishable by up to four years in state prison regardless of the item's value, as Hoodline has previously reported.
How to Submit a Tip
NYPD Crime Stoppers publicized the case on September 4, and anyone with information is asked to come forward. Tips can be submitted through the NYPD Crime Stoppers website, by calling 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or through the @NYPDTips account on X; Spanish-speaking tipsters can call 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards of up to $3,500 for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest and indictment in felony cases, and tipsters can remain completely anonymous throughout the process.
