At the Bronx Citibank branch leading the city in heists this year, robbery is so routine that sometimes customers don’t notice.
Don Jenkins was fiddling with his mobile phone on May 17 when the Citibank at 3955 Baychester Ave. in Wakefield was hit for the third time in 2016.
The teller tried to get his attention.
“She was looking at me, trying to tell me something . . . Like, ‘You see what’s going on?’ ” he said.
But Jenkins admitted he had no clue. “I was oblivious,” he said. “I was either flirting with somebody or on my phone checking Facebook . . . I don’t know what she expected me to do.”
The heist that unfolded before Jenkins was typical of most bank robberies in the city.
As of June 2, there have been 78 bank robberies and attempted robberies in 2016, 73 of which involved a demand for money made with a note or a spoken threat.
Those holdups are handled by the NYPD.
The other five robberies this year involved a weapon, such as a gun or knife. Those heists are investigated by the FBI.
Bandits have struck 34 times in Manhattan, 19 times in The Bronx, 15 times in Brooklyn and 10 times in Queens. No robberies have been reported in Staten Island.
The heists have increased since last year.
There were only 56 unarmed bank jobs at around the same time in 2015 and 12 armed bank robberies at the end of the year.
A whopping 32 robberies have occurred at Chase branches, the data shows.
Jenkin joked that the Baychester Avenue Citi branch deserves to have a plaque out front honoring its place as this year’s robbery leader.
Though he didn’t notice the May 17 heist — in which the robber passed the teller a note demanding money and then fled — Rafael Gomez, a fruit vendor, saw its aftermath.
Gomez, who was working at a sidewalk stand next door, saw a security guard chasing after the bandit. He worries about robbers returning.
Jenkins said there’s always a security guard at the bank, “but in terms of his effectiveness, I’m not sure. Apparently, it hasn’t worked.”
The cramped Baychester Avenue branch has four tellers, video cameras and a security guard. It’s at the corner of Baychester and Strang avenues, less than two miles from an entrance to the Hutchinson Parkway and I-95.
The other two robberies at the bank this year were on Jan. 20 and Feb. 4.
A Citibank customer for over 15 years, Jenkins has a soft spot for the “hardworking, middle-class and mostly Caribbean residents” who make up the neighborhood.
“Beneath the calm, there is a crime element here,” he said. He noted recent NYPD gang takedowns at the nearby Edenwald and Gun Hill houses.
Branch manager Damon Alford declined comment.