CHEVY CHASE, Md. - Authorities are warning Montgomery County (web | news) residents about the danger of pickpockets after they say least six incidents have occurred targeting senior citizens in Kensington, Chevy Chase and Bethesda.

At the Kaiser Permanente building on Connecticut Avenue, the thieves pretended to fall or that their arm was stuck in an elevator. In one case, they dropped a bunch of items on the floor. All were diversionary tactics used to rob senior citizens.

A surveillance video shows one of the victims an elevator about to press "6" for her floor. The man next to her soon asked for her help. Police say a man pictured in a green top and jacket over his shoulder waiting in line on the video is the sidekick.

Bethesda resident Ruth Crone is one of six senior citizens pickpockets targeted in Montgomery County in the last month. In her case, they got her wallet right out of her zippered handbag.

Said Crone, "It didn't take me 10 seconds to say, 'Ohhh, I know what happened to me!'"

Crone says the man in an orange shirt started yelling while they were on the elevator at the busy Medical Camalier building in Bethesda.

"My arm's stuck! My arm's stuck! You need to help me," Crone said, imitating the thief.

Crone, whose arm was in a sling, had her purse over the other shoulder and tried to help. "There was another man behind me and as I'm trying to pull, you can see my body flinching and my purse did so the guy behind me could easily unzip the purse and remove the wallet," she said.

The pickpockets tried their scams three times at the Kaiser Permanente building in Kensington. There, an 84-year-old woman was targeted.

"It's amazing they have no limits about who they would victimize," said Eugene Myles, a Mitchellville resident.

Sources say the thieves also hit the Chevy Chase building on Wisconsin Avenue twice.

Police say the thieves managed to buy cell phones and gift cards which are hard to track and easy to sell

Crone cancelled her credit cards within 10 minutes of having her wallet stolen. Twenty minutes later, the suspects tried to buy $1,000 worth of items from Best Buy in Rockville.

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