MIAMI – Since Sept. 19, at least 13 women — from nine different countries — have been attacked, robbed and some beaten in the parking lots of seven different hotels within a five-mile radius of Miami International Airport (search).
Police say the perpetrators wait for people — many of whom probably are carrying a decent amount of cash to the tourist hot spot — to show up at the hotels, unaware of the unfamiliar surroundings.
While none of the incidents have been deadly, they are reminiscent of the attacks on Miami tourists in 1993, when six foreign tourists were murdered. Their killers followed the victims after they picked up their rental cars. Cops say the more recent attacks are more crimes of opportunity that happen all over the country.
"These are subjects looking for opportunity. They're waiting in parking lots at hotels. They're grabbing someone's purse, someone's property as they're distracted, going in and out of their vehicle," said Det. Juan Del Castillo of the Miami-Dade Police Department (search).
Employees at some of the hotels where the incidents took place told FOX News that they have since increased security but so far, there are no suspects and no arrests have been made.
Click on the box at the top of the story to watch a report by FOX News' Orlando Salinas.
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