Fell for the con

[Foxglove8778]

almost happened to me once... store policy was not to open the drawer without a transaction.... he did buy something & then started trying to play with the denominations of the change.... as soon as he started trying to take control of the transaction & interrupting me when I tried to complete one at a time, I closed the cash drawer and had it counted down. off by $0.01+ supervisor offered him the penny.

[Imogene]

Somebody *did* make a video of it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcFUZqLAYDs

I had to watch the darn thing twice to really get it...

-K'Z'K

It took me a few times through, but I did eventually figure out what just happened, even with the video.
I had the most trouble with the idea of whose money was whose...
Once the $9 goes to the till, and turns out to be a dollar short, it is the store's money. Him adding the $11 to that to get a twenty means he just got a $20 back for what was roughly half his own money. Plus, he still had the ten in his pocket, so he's got more than his own money.

[Pedersen]

Wow. Just watched that video. Three times. And still barely understood it. That's just amazing.

[Metody]

Dunno if this helps any, but here's what's happening:

There is Alex, the scammer, and Sara, the shopkeeper.

Alex walks in. Asks politely for change for a $20.

Sara takes his $20, and gives him $20 in change. Usually, the change will be broken down like this: a ten, a five, and five ones. It's the sensible way to do it.

Alex puts the $20 in his pocket. Right now, they're even.

Now the scam really starts: he says he realizes he already got $10 in small change! That's too much change to carry around - he's really sorry, but could he exchange half of what he just got for a bill?

Now Alex puts a stack of money on the counter. Watch that stack, and remember that it's the store's money. Sara hands him $10 back, since she thinks he just put $10 on the counter. He puts that ten in his pocket. Then Alex reminds Sara to count the money on the counter.

Sara counts the money on the counter. Gosh, it's only $9! He's gone and accidentally shortchanged her - thank goodness he reminded her to count that, eh?

Now Alex says this:

"Tell you what - since I've already got ten in change and I don't really need any more, could I just have my twenty back?"

Then Alex adds $11 of his money to the stack on the counter. You know...the stack that belongs to the store. Now, that stack consists of $9 of the store's money, and $11 of Alex's money. In total, there's $20 on the counter.

But Sara isn't thinking - she's a bit flustered from all the shifting around of cash, and who wouldn't be? So she takes the $20 off the counter, and hands Alex $20. He puts it in his pocket, which already contains $10 from the very first transaction. Then he walks off into the sunset.

It's really clever. And wow, really jerky.

[ds_36]

Somebody *did* make a video of it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcFUZqLAYDs

I had to watch the darn thing twice to really get it...

-K'Z'K

Thanks for the link...Anyway I give up, it's too damn confusing. For the cashier I think it'd be fairly obvious that something is going on once he starts with the 10, but there's no way most people would get what.

[ShadedWings]

I got scammed my first christmas season working in a grocery store...

I was on express and it was a really really busy sunday and I wasn't used to express yet. I had a long line, and this guy pulled the same scam, but used $100 bill... and got $50 off me. (This was a couple years ago, I honestly can't remember how it was done, but it was the same method.)

The good thing about it, was my brain was stuck on that transaction, thinking about it, during the next order, and before I started the second order after it, my brain was screaming at me that something didn't seem right about it. So, I called a manager over and told them I think I got scammed... of course, this was after they had already left.

The manager switched out the tills (people in line getting pissed that they had to wait more!!) and sure enough, $50 short. I was FURIOUS. To the point of shaking with rage and red in the face. And I still had to stay on register.

At one point, a nice customer asked me if I was okay, and I was still so blind with rage that I got conned I blurted "No! I'm not! I'm having a very very bad day and I'm pissed off!" The guy was shocked but said he hoped my day went better.

People who pull this con are practiced, and usually do it for a whole holiday season in the same area without getting caught. As far as I know, that guy and an accomplice did that throughout the township area in ALL the retail stores through christmas time and DID NOT GET CAUGHT. All we heard were comments passed down from management from other stores in the area that they got scammed too. All I can say when it comes to this scam, is make change once, then close till. If they want different change, tell them to go to the customer service desk, it passes the blame and responsibility to (sometimes) more experienced people who deal with higher amounts of money every day. And if they get scammed, then the blame won't fall on a (lowly ) cashier.

Edit/Addition: Something I remembered... it shocks me that after something like this happens, retail stores don't train the new cashiers with this type of thing as part of the "warning, this might happen" section of training. No mention at all. Roughly a year later, one of the newer people who became a close friend got scammed.. by the SAME GUY.. but for $150! How, I don't know, but evidently the guy was more practiced at that point. It's called a security camera and the cops, call them.

And yes, both she and I got written up for it, reason being "we should have known better". What!?! If we've never been scammed like this, and not trained about it, how should we have known better!!? Ugh. Sickens me on that part.

[SuperB]

And yes, both she and I got written up for it, reason being "we should have known better". What!?! If we've never been scammed like this, and not trained about it, how should we have known better!!? Ugh. Sickens me on that part.

Oh that would piss me off. I've been handling money for over 20 years and never thought I would fall for this type of scam but it works if the person is very good and you don't deal with such attempts much.

I was just mentioning to someone yesterday that I feel like I've become too comfortable with people lately. Nothing bad has happened lately, nothing much to cause any serious worry w/regard to potential threats with customers and that creates a false sense of security. This con was a wake-up call. I would never criticize an employee for it and if I ever do have employees again, I'll make sure they are aware of how to spot this should anyone try it.

[aurelemsrealm]

I watched the video a couple of times before I finally figured out how he was pulling it off.

The only time I make change for non-customers is if they say they want change for the payphone or air machine. Then, I'll only change a dollar or two, and that's it. In short, buy something or go away. There is no other valid reason for pestering me while I'm working.

As for customers, it really depends on what change I have available as to what change I'll give them.