HOUSTON — Houston police call it jugging - stealing from people after following them from a bank or high-end store.
"They will sit outside typically in vehicles with dark tinted windows, sometimes they will go in the bank and pose as a customer, but they work in teams, they conduct hours of surveillance," said HPD Commander Dana Hitzman, during a news conference back in June.
It happened to a woman Monday afternoon after she says she made two separate stops at banks in Houston's Tanglewood neighborhood. She asked us to keep her identity anonymous.
"They followed me from place to place," the woman said.
She said the first stop was at the Capital One bank off Voss Road.
"I was in the bank for about 20-plus minutes or so," she explained.
Then, she went across the street to do business at Wells Fargo.
"I just didn't think something like that would happen at one something in the afternoon," she said.
The victim said she made her final stop of the afternoon in the back parking lot of a Kroger. She said she ran in for some groceries and came out to find the back window of her car completely shattered.
The thief made off with a significant amount of cash and other important documents.
"They're actually seen on videotape, they waited two minutes before they drove up behind my parked vehicle," she said. "They actually jumped in and pulled a bag out from underneath the driver's side. I didn't have anywhere to put it on me and I didn't want to get out and go into the store with that on me."
It's a move that's left her both shaken and frustrated, asking if more can be done.
"What about my marginalized communities who that was their very last, that is not okay," she said. "When I'm on your property I expect to feel safe and I don't anymore."
Just last month, Houston police announced a task force to help tackle these sort of cases.
They're urging people to be aware of their surroundings and pay attention to the little things.
If you see someone on a freeway switching lanes to follow you, take an exit and get back on, and try not to leave valuables in your car unattended.
"Folks are getting desperate and people everywhere are hurting and unfortunately some people don’t have a human conscience and they don’t care about other people," the woman said.