Quick change scam

[AnaKhouri]

I got scammed. Once. Now when someone tries that or asks for change for large bills I tell them I can't do that and there's a bank across the shopping center.

[Summerfly413]

I'm glad that we have a rule at my store that only the service desk can give change(outside of a normal transaction, of course). So to the people who say "While your drawer is open.." (sometimes these people just walk up on my side or behind me, who weren't even part of the transaction to begin with) I just tell them "Oh I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to make change. They can get you change up at the service desk."

And we aren't supposed to open our drawer back up for a customer once we close it and give them their change.

I think these precautions help with quick changing at my store

[Record Store Tough Guy]

In my entire time at the record store, I was never scammed by a Quick Change Artist. I may have had some attempt to scam me, but because of the way I handled transactions, I shut them down before they could really even start. One thing to keep in mind is that you're in control of the transaction, not the customer. If they try to take control by asking for or switching denominations or amounts as you're counting (a common tactic), ask them to hold on for just a second so you don't lose track of what you're counting. If they keep doing so, stop counting until they keep quiet. A flat stare tends to work best in this situation, as it generally lets them know you're on to them. If at any point they succeed in throwing you off count, do NOT try and figure things out on your own. Put everything back in the drawer and call a manager. If they get agitated at this point, it's pretty likely they're a scammer. Simply refusing to accede to any special change requests can nip this problem before it starts.

Never try to keep up with them. Never try to "out scam" them; they're pros, you will likely lose.

If they get belligerent, insist that you want to make sure they aren't shortchanged; if you act like you're doing them a favor, it takes the wind out of their sails, and they can't continue to use intimidation as a tactic.

Announcing the denomination of and putting the bill they pay with on top of the till until the transaction is complete is excellent advice. If you have a counterfeit pen you can even mark it with the time you took it. Anything that verifies what they paid with will keep them from scamming you.

If they're not purchasing anything, don't make change, period. As has been said, let a manager or customer service deal with it. Sometimes they may only want your drawer open so they can grab a handful of bills. This is less common, however, and can easily be foiled by refusing to let an open drawer out of your sight even for a second. Dude wants to see that box set behind you? He'll have to wait til you're done ringing up his accomplice.

Like I said above, as long as you stay in control of the transaction, and shut down any attempt to wrest that control away from you, you'll stand a good chance of shutting down these kinds of scammers before they even start.

[SourRobot]

Great advice, Record Store Tough Guy and Andara Bledin!

[Jay 2K Winger]

To the best of my knowledge, I've never been nailed on quick-change scams. Granted, this might be because I'm not some short or waifish type of person that a scammer feels like they can bully or easily confused.

Being six-foot-two, fairly broad in the shoulders, and my general aura of "suffer no bulls**t" probably defuses a lot of scammers or potential Suck.

[saturnz_dragon]

It's actually pretty funny that I created this thread a few days or so ago, and just yesterday I had a guy come up to me and try this scam on me yet again! I shut this dude down before he even started. He looked suspicious because he was hanging around the checklanes half-heartedly looking at things and finally decided when the coast was clear to buy some women's hair ties (!) in my line. His total was like $3 or so, and I saw he had smaller bills, but of course he gave me a $100 bill.

Well, as soon as I opened my drawer, put the 100 in, and started giving him back his $97 in change, he said, "Wait, I meant to give you a 20! Can I have that 100 back?"

I stopped what I was doing, stared him down a little, and said, "Why don't I just give you back your change?"

So I gave him his change for the hair ties (which I'm sure this very short haired guy was planning on using), and I said, "You can go to customer service if you want a $100 bill."

He said okay and started to walk over there... I knew he wasn't going to try it with the guy working at the service desk (who also happens to be my boyfriend) because he just does not look like someone you wanna mess with.

As soon as the scammer walked away from me I ran up to my manager and warned her about him so that they could review the tapes, look at the type of car he was driving, and warn the stores in our surrounding shopping centers about him and how he might try to pull a fast one on them.

I felt really good about myself after all of this because I knew I did a good job and that butthole didn't get a damn thing from me!

[Plaidman]

saturnz_dragon, I've had plently of people do that to me. Sometimes they really did mean to give smaller bill. Just saying. I wasn't there, so I gotta take your word that he was trying to scam you. But that's when you say ok, ask for the twenty, give him his hundred back, then 17 more dollars. No fuss.

[saturnz_dragon]

saturnz_dragon, I've had plently of people do that to me. Sometimes they really did mean to give smaller bill. Just saying. I wasn't there, so I gotta take your word that he was trying to scam you. But that's when you say ok, ask for the twenty, give him his hundred back, then 17 more dollars. No fuss.

Yes, I've had people do that before, but something about him was very fishy. When people do that accidentally, I can tell it by the tone of their voice and the way they say it. He was more demanding about it and sort of reached towards my drawer, which immediately set off alarms in my head. Just by the way he was acting I could tell he was trying to scam me.

[JustaCashier]

I think I mentioned this on another thread quite awhile ago.

One day at the hardware store, a guy pays for his purchase, and gives me what I swore was a $100.00 bill.

I put the bill under my till tray, (my preference, and practice in all other cash handling jobs was to put the bill on top of the till as cashiers typically do, however there I was trained to put it in the till right away. Did so reluctantly at first, until I saw how often the wind would blow in through the front doors when they opened, and blow the bill away. [ /digress]) and give the guy his $80.00+ in change.

The guy says, "Aw man, I can't do this to you, I only gave you a twenty". I chuckled, thinking he was trying to be funny, doing a reversal of "I gave you a $100.00" when they only gave twenty.

I look under the drawer, and sure enough there was a twenty there, (we kept them in one of the slots in the tray) plus, whatever 50's and/or 100's I already had.

I just about crapped my pants! I kept playing the transaction back in my mind, even later in the day, and still swore I remember it being a 100.

The only thing that bothered me besides the screw up itself, was that I was so stunned by the whole thing, I don't remember if I thanked the guy sufficiently, or just stood there dumbstruck as he handed me the $80.00 back.

Mike

[Ironclad Alibi]

The guy says, "Aw man, I can't do this to you, I only gave you a twenty". I chuckled, thinking he was trying to be funny, doing a reversal of "I gave you a $100.00" when they only gave twenty.

Something like that happened to me once. I had a refund check for something like $4.50. I gave it to a bank teller to cash it. She pulled out a wrapped bundle of $20 bills and counted them out. I was wondering why she was doing that instead of giving me the $4.50. After she finished counting the stack of twenties, she added a few more bills and handed then to me. Not understanding what happened, I asked her how much that check was for. Then she saw her error. She had mistaken a serial number on the check for the amount of the check.

[LadyAndreca]

To the best of my knowledge, I've never been quick-changed (though I did miss a fake $50 mixed in a stack of real bills once). Orange Apron did some basic training on some of the most common scams, like quick changing and hiding items inside others, during the cashier training, but nothing so inventive as SCs actually are.

These are the steps I use when counting back change:
1. Say "out of $xx?" when taking payment.
2. Count the change to myself as I pull it out of the drawer, and again to the customer when I'm giving it to them. I don't mind denomination requests because I'm still verifying how much I have in my hand before I give it to the customer.
3. If I do get confused, I say "I'm sorry, I lost count, let me start over", put EVERYTHING back and start counting the change again.
4. If the customer wants additional change, tell them I have to do one transaction at a time and don't change the new bill until I've completed the sale.