‘Slider' thieves prey on women pumping gas

Some quick criminals are preying on North Texans' blind spot.

University Park police say a handful of purses have been snatched while women pump gas with their backs turned.

Police say the suspects, or “sliders,” work busy gas stations. They look for women with purses who are driving tall SUVs.

Once the victim turns her back to pump gas, the slider opens the passenger door, plucks the purse off the passenger seat and drives off.

In one recent incident, surveillance video shows a white car driving back and forth several times in front of the pumps at the Chevron on Preston and Northwest Highway.

A driver in a white SUV pulls up next to the car and soon becomes a victim of a slider.

Ralph Hooda owns the gas station.

He says it's happened six times in the last two months at his other station, too, at Fitzhugh and 75 in Dallas.

“It happened in a matter of 15 seconds,” said Hooda. “And it's just amazing. These guys are pros.”

University Park police say sliders have struck four times there; twice in July and twice in August.

A recent victim of sliders says she canceled everything, but not quite fast enough -- the thieves went on a $600 spending spree on her dime in just 20 minutes.

Besides her purse, she says she was robbed of her sense of security.