Central Park crooks are stealing New Yorkers’ bikes — and renting them out at an hourly rate to tourists, The Post has learned.
“It’s crazy to me…it’s unbelievable!” said Manny Gillis, 43, of the Upper East Side, who said his bike was swiped for the scam.
The shady bike renters — who don’t have permits for the business — set up a stand with mismatched used bikes near Columbus Circle, police sources said.
Using laminated signs, they target out-of-towners then haggle for an hourly price, which ranges from $15 to $25.
Once the tourist agrees to the deal, they collect his or her ID and hand over the used and mismatched bikes — some of which were jacked from cyclists like Gillis, police sources said.
Gillis’ $1,000 red Cannondale was stolen from a piece of scaffolding in Midtown on May 13 — but he managed to get it back after tracking down one of the crooks, he said.
He noticed a man chasing a female tourist in Central Park, shouting “That’s my bike!” five days after his own was stolen, he said.
It sparked his curiosity, so he returned that night and spotted a man hauling two bikes to a makeshift bike rental operation near Madison Avenue and 59th Street, he said.
“I followed him to this pole and there was a bunch of bikes there…I got out of the car, confronted him and said, ‘That’s my bike!,” Gillis said.
The crook quickly gave it back — but Gillis is still disturbed by the whole thing, he said.
“The bigger issue there’s some kind of pattern here,” Gillis said.
High-ranking cops agree.
“They take away business from the legitimate bike rental stands,” one police source said.
“They run an illicit bike rental operation…They’re targeting tourists. They’re very aggressive. I believe some of them are stolen,” the officer added.
Another officer added, “It’s a sketchy business.”
Cops described them as a group of African immigrants; Gillis’s description of the man with his bike matched that.
The illegal renters sometimes park the bikes in nearby garages and even accept mobile credit card machines but it’s generally a cash business, police sources said.
They rent out many different brands of bikes, including Raleigh and Giant.
The shady renters sometimes set up near the Apple store on Fifth Avenue near 59th Street, cops said.
Gillis held his crook’s bike hostage by locking it to a pole after he noticed his water bottle and other gear missing. The shady renter eventually forked over $100.
“Know what that is?” he said. “Retribution.”
Additional reporting by Jennifer Bain.