In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight – reader reports plus incidents from the SPD files.

CHECK YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS … if you have used cards at gas stations lately. This is from Kathy:

Got a call from Discover Card yesterday to tell me they had detected fraudulent activity on my card. Turns out that the last place I used the card was on Thursday at the Safeway Gas Station on Admiral Way (first pump on the left.) Looking back at the charges, even though I filled the tank, I was only charged $1 by Safeway! Then, yesterday morning a charge was made to my card for a “donation” to an entity I’ve never heard of. Discover is not charging me anything, and is sending me a new card, but I do want to put out a warning to potential victims. I spoke to Safeway, and they said they’d bring it to the attention of their manager, who won’t be in until Monday!

If you have gotten gas at the Safeway pumps in the last few days, I would suggest checking charges on whatever card you used to make sure you haven’t been ripped off.

It’s a good idea to check your credit and debit card accounts online between statements, as this could happen almost anywhere.

EGG VANDALISM: Bri’Anna e-mailed to report: “Our pickup was egged overnight [Wednesday/Thursday] while parked on the 4100 block of 25th Ave SW. Unfortunately, it froze to the vehicle. SPD did not take a report, but we thought we would give our neighbors a heads up. (Sooo many egg/chicken/fowl puns, and my mind is blank! I’m THAT frustrated with this.)”

From the police-report files, which we check daily to look for the newest reports published with details (narratives), five burglaries/attempted burglaries that were all reported in West Seattle last Monday (January 9th):

8100 BLOCK 9TH SW: A resident was away from home between 1 pm and 2:45 pm and discovered someone had forced open the back door, ransacking several rooms.

8800 BLOCK 9TH SW: In the same time frame, with the same method of entry, on the same street, another burglary happened about half a mile south. The family at this house got notification from its alarm company. The burglar(s) had ransacked rooms and left drawers open; a jewelry box and camcorder were missing.

3900 BLOCK 39TH SW: This also happened Monday afternoon. The resident was looking at a security camera while away from home after getting an alert around 1:20 pm, triggered by a motion center. The resident saw a “black male suspect” in black ski mask, gray sweatshirt, and black pants, walking “under the elevated back porch,” the report says, then looking into a back window before walking away. The resident believed a rear window screen had been removed, but it didn’t appear the residence had been broken into. Around the same time, a nearby resident called police to report two men – one of whom matched the prowler’s description – looking at houses from alleyways near 39th SW and SW Andover.

4900 BLOCK SW DAWSON: Residents told police that sometime between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, someone broke into the house and ransacked two rooms. Jewelry and a laptop were missing. The first hint they had that something was awry was that their dog didn’t greet them upon their return – they found the dog in one of the bedrooms, door closed, and they never put the dog there.

7300 BLOCK 44TH SW: Just before noon, police were called to investigate a construction trailer in this block. They were told that it had been burglarized, with a padlock cut to get in, and six power tools were missing.

It takes a while for report details (beyond location/time) to show up on the SPD website, so reader reports are helpful, so we can help get the word out faster – once you’ve called SPD, if it’s breaking, text/voice 206-293-6302, or e-mail info to editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!