Quick change scam

[saturnz_dragon]

I was wondering how many others have experienced this scam. For those of you that don't know, it's when someone buys something small, like a pack of gum, with a large bill, such as $100. Then he'll ask for his change back in multiple ways until the cashier gets confused and he ends up with more money than he should have gotten back. This happened to me once when I first started cashiering and he got away with $300. I felt horrible, but of course I didn't get in trouble because I didn't know any better. Now I tell all the new cashiers about this scam and how to avoid it.

I had another person try it on me a few months after the first time, but I stopped her dead in her tracks and she got pissed off and stormed out. Oh well. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I can assure you that no one will ever pull that shit on me again.

[South Texan]

I was at the cash register of a fast food taco chain when it first was tried on me. Luckily, my manager micro-managed us and heard it start. She stepped in and foiled the con by making the $97 in change in large bills first, handing them to the guy, then telling him he could hand her back the individual bills he wanted her to break. After the first twenty was broken, the guy figured out she was on to him and left.

I watched Paper Moon a year or so later, and saw how the con was pulled off in the movie. It was exactly what the guy was starting with me.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Oh yeah, we've had those people come by. Actually, it was only once I know of, and their scam didn't work. Short-change artists had been hitting other stores with success and their LP people were giving us the heads-up with descriptions of the scammers and how they carried out the scam.

Our policy is change is never to be made at the registers. If somebody asks you to make change at the register, you shut your drawer and send the person to the service desk, where it isn't so easy to get the clerk confused and switching bills.

[Plaidman]

Heh. People try that shit with me all the time. It never works on me, because I'm... well... smart. I can count. Not to mention once I break a change, and they ask for more, I stop them period by saying sorry, thats all the change I can give. You want more, buy more. I do not buy change unless I feel like it.


And not to pry or call you stupid, but how did you give 300 dollars out?!

[RetailWorkhorse]

*Raises hand*

Guilty. And I STILL don't wanna talk about it.

I have since had Dad teach it to me so it doesn't happen again. Come to think about it, it's about time for another round.

[underemployeed]

Heh. People try that shit with me all the time. It never works on me, because I'm... well... smart. I can count. Not to mention once I break a change, and they ask for more, I stop them period by saying sorry, thats all the change I can give. You want more, buy more. I do not buy change unless I feel like it.


And not to pry or call you stupid, but how did you give 300 dollars out?!

Yeah, I stop short of calling them out on it, of course I get the ones that switch a $20 bill with a $1 or $5. Only one guy got it over on me, because my manger stepped in and as policy we can't argue with customers, rather than audit my drawer and catch him she just customer serviced it out after later watching the video and seeing what he did.

The other two times it has happened no management was around and I got to argue with them, and they gave up because the one time I only had a single $20 in my drawer called the plauge because it wouldn't drop and I had to buy it off a manager so he could close down his drawer before leaving. So I KNOW, I gave it to this guy. He said "well we will deal with it later", went out pumped his $5 in gas. and came back in to tell me he found the $20 he accidential switched it with a $5 he originally intended to apy with until he decided to break his $50, and he forgot to count before putting the money back in his pocket. and then took it out again and got it mixed up.... He saw me writing down A LOT of information about him while he pumped his gas.

NOW I have a procedure:
If someone breaks out a $50 or $100 I instantly double my guard.
Say <amount> out of $50
Physically Count back the change to them, and stare at them till they walk away.

because

every time I had it happen it was with a $50, ESPECIALLY if they want $5 in gas on a pump that hard to see. As the one guy had me put $15 on pump 5, then told me he said $5 on pump 15, which is how he was able to switch out the $20 when he handed the money back because I was distracted grabing a $10 out of the drawer, so i slide it all back over and noticed that wait where the $20 go.

Another guy did It when I was cashing out lottery, He won $25, I handed over a $20 and $5. I looked outside to grab a plate of a pump I just turned on,
scammer siad "You shorted me"
I looked at the $1, and $5 in his hand
me: "I handed you $20"
scammer: "No you didn't"
me: "I gave you my only $20 " <- thats a lie
scammer: "Your drawer is going to be over"
me: shrugged shoulders "Oh well"
scammer, turns around and leaves.
Next customer "Did you really short him?"
me: "Do you really think, he wouldn't have instantly noticed a $1 instead of $20? and would have left so easily?"
next customer: "Thats a good point!"

I make it a point to be a complete DICK, to those "Customers" because they aren't the kind of people we want in the store, they just ripping us off. I really hate that my manger can't give me a raise, but will turn over $20 to some who can't get a real job. which is 3 hrs of my work in 5min, I take that shit personally.

[Summerfly413]

I don't think it's ever happened to me. I took a fake hundred once, but that's another story.

I can't recall someone trying to switch up the amount or type of bills. And I'll always look at the change owed, count it out, count it again, and sometimes count a third time if I'm giving a lot of change.

[vstorevigilante]

I don't think it's ever happened to me. I took a fake hundred once, but that's another story.

I can't recall someone trying to switch up the amount or type of bills. And I'll always look at the change owed, count it out, count it again, and sometimes count a third time if I'm giving a lot of change.

When I worked at the theatre we had to watch an hour-long video about how to spot fake money... it was terrible, but informative. And yet I still accepted a fake $50 bill on a busy night! All the preparation in the world can't prevent everything.

[Andara Bledin]

It's been a long time since I worked a cash register, but I do believe someone tried to pull this with me, once.

But I have an exceptional grasp of math and numbers, and am very anal about how I handle other people's money, so my natural inclinations shut them down before they could even get started.

It wasn't until I started reading stories here about quick-change scammers that I realized what they'd likely been trying. It's only stuck with me so long because the way they kept wanting different denominations of change was a bit odd.

^-.-^

[arminius58]

I've never had this happen to me, but I refuse to take anything over a 20 when I'm in charge of the money that night. I'm one of the few people in the store that drops anything above a five into the safe like we're supposed to, so I tell the customer that they can either wait half an hour for change or they can have it all in ones and fives.

[TelephoneAngel]

when i have worked on cash desks i have always put the cashnote the customer gave me, not immediately into the cashdrawer, but just above it, then if the customer says i only gave change for a five and it was a twenty, i can show them the five they gave me still sitting on top of the cashdrawer.

[vstorevigilante]

when i have worked on cash desks i have always put the cashnote the customer gave me, not immediately into the cashdrawer, but just above it, then if the customer says i only gave change for a five and it was a twenty, i can show them the five they gave me still sitting on top of the cashdrawer.

This is exactly what we were taught to do at the theatre, and is probably the most valuable thing I took from my time there. Employers I've had since have looked at me like I have ten heads, and questioned why I was "Leaving the cash on the counter!", I explained my reasoning, and they always understand. It's a fantastic way to stop scammers (and even non-scammers who just genuinely think you shortchanged them).

[phantasy]

I've been scammed before, it's what Baltimoreans call a "flam-flam". An incredibly well dressed guy comes in, gold rings and pim-looking outfit in a grocery store with his little girlfriend. He pretends not to know her, and after he paid a pack of gum with a $100 bill, pretends to meet her and want to buy her another candy or something. He wanted to confuse me into giving X amount of change back if he gave me a $20 bill, or something. To this day I don't know what happened.

I immediately knew what happened, shut my till and told him to GTFO. My manager was upset until I explained what happened. I ended up $20 short and had to pay it back. It literally made me cry, knowing that I could be that stupid.

[QUOTE=Summerfly413;701375]I don't think it's ever happened to me. I took a fake hundred once, but that's another story. QUOTE]

I've done that before. I'll explain that in a different thread though. Damn, remembering that just burns me up!

[ditchdj]

Yep saw it almost happen next to me at a Burger King inside a gas station. Guy came up with five $10 dollar bills and tried to get the cashier to give him change a bunch of times. It didnt work and he left. It didnt help that there were two managers in the front watching him. Then the cashier from the gas station side came over and told him that the guy tried to same thing with him.

[BowserKoopa1]

I have never had it happen to me, and I've been told its because they look for cashiers who they think might be weak or slow. Myself, I'm quick with numbers and my till is dead on almost every time.
However I have had customers come up to me and ask me to break bills. Every single time, I tell them "I'm sorry, I can't do it." Yeah they give me the look, but tough shit, I don't care. We're not a dam bank.
1 of my fellow cashiers said he caught someone in the act of trying to short change him, and he simply looked at the guy and said, "Dude, don't try it." All it took was a certain look in his eyes to tell the scammer that he was on to him, and he just shut up after that and left. Good riddens.
I also do remember a story posted on this site about how a scammer tried that on a cashier, but the cashier wound up taking money from the guy!