Mini Scammer Thwarted

[bhskittykatt]

Today, we thwarted a Mini Scammer. This scammer was only about 10 years old. We shall call him Sucky Kid, or SK for short.

I was heading out of the office, when I see this kid fiddling with the vending machine.

Me: "Is everything okay?"
SK: "Yeah, this thing's just not working. I put in $2.00, and it ate my money."

I look at the machine, and it shows no credit. This machine is usually cooperative, so I'm a bit dubious, but I refer SK to Other MOD at the desk to process the refund.

Other MOD is dubious as well, so she writes up a refund slip, and asks SK to have his mom sign it, and then he can bring it back to get his money.

A while passes, and we don't see SK. Finally, he returns. The signature on the refund slip is clearly NOT an adult's signature. There's actually two signatures, the first of which is heavily crossed out.

Other MOD: "Did your mom sign this?"
SK: "Yeah."
Other MOD: "Because it doesn't look like her signature." *goes and pulls the reg card where we have Mom's sig on file* "See? This is her signature, and it doesn't look like what's on this slip."
SK: "Well, she just woke up and was tired when she signed it."
Other MOD: "So if I call up to your mom and ask her, will she say she signed it?"
SK: "Uh.........yeah?"

Other MOD starts dialing.
SK: "No, it's okay, I can go take it up to..."
Other MOD: *into the phone* "Yes, is this [SK's Mom]? Yes, well your son came down here and said he put $2 into the vending machine and the machine didn't register it, so I made him a refund slip and told him to have you sign it and bring it back so he could get his money back, and he's brought me this refund slip that looks like he signed it instead because it doesn't match the signature we have on your registration.....uh huh.....mmm hmmm.....okay, then, thank you."
Other MOD turned to SK: "She said she didn't sign it."
SK: "She didn't?"
Other MOD: "No, she didn't. That's not her signature. So I'm going to make you another refund slip, and you can go get her signature for real on it this time, and bring it back and I can give you your money back."

We haven't seen SK since.

EDIT: Just found the refund slip sitting atop the AC unit just outside the office. He never even tried to take it back to his mom!

[PepperElf]

Not only for thwarting a would-be kid scammer but.... for letting him learn the price of lying and stealing... cos I'm betting his mom was NOT pleased.

[Howler]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA *snork* *cough* HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[XCashier]

Not only for thwarting a would-be kid scammer but.... for letting him learn the price of lying and stealing... cos I'm betting his mom was NOT pleased.

I know I sure wouldn't be!

Very well done! Perhaps he will rethink his scamming ambitions?

[manybellsdown]

He obviously did not think this through. His mom wasn't with him the first time, so if he'd just brought her the slip and said the machine ate his money she probably would have signed it.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I almost never lie to my parents about my screw-ups. Mostly because they always find out. Through no fault of my own, sometimes. They just happen to find out the truth, and then I get in twice the trouble-- for the screw-up, and for lying.

Hopefully, SK learns something similar.

[ShadowBall]

Kid's gotta learn to forge better.

When I was that age, I had to take home all my tests and quizzes for my mother to see and sign and sometimes I had some bad grades in there. To avoid being verbally abused and have the entire house (mother, grandmother and grandfather) erupt into a screaming rage, I just learned to copy my mother's signature. Got away with it for about five years until I no longer needed her to sign my exams.

I was always lying about shit to my mother because she didn't react like a normal parent and give me a disappointed look, a heavy sigh and ground me from the TV for a week. She'd scream bloody murder at me about how dumb I am and how I'm going to fail and not even get hired at Wal-Mart and threaten to kill my grandma if she yelled at my mother for yelling at me. All because I forgot a homework assignment. So yah, I got real good at hiding stuff and forging siggies starting about in the fourth grade.

Being an artist had its practical upsides at that age. I know lying is bad and I knew it then, but I actually felt quite proud of myself for pulling off a convincing fib at that age because it preserved my sanity. Basically, I'd only ever lie to my mother because it was almost always easier than telling the truth. I doubt the kid's mother in this story is a nutjob like mine is, but still.

[zenhashi]

On the topic of forging signatures...

When I was in upper comprehensive school and going through my teenage rebellious phase, I could often get landed in detention for being a smartmouth. I usually corrected the teachers and once even told the TRUTH and got detention.

Luckily for me, my handwriting's similar to my Dad's and it's easy to copy... ever since, my own signature is almsot an exact copy of my Dad's signature (we have almost the same first name) :P

I even signed my younger sister's detention slip when she had smartmouthed something a to a teacher.

Don't get me wrong, I thought (and still do) that lying is wrong...in most cases. And my parents still saw my grades and such when I gave them the end of year grades.

[RealUnimportant]

He obviously did not think this through. His mom wasn't with him the first time, so if he'd just brought her the slip and said the machine ate his money she probably would have signed it.

You're assuming he was allowed to have sodas, and had his own money with which to buy them...

I forged my dad's signature all the time at school, but I took it too far when I tried to forge a teacher's signature... & got it wrong, so I used white-out & redid it. Unsurprisingly, the use of white-out was a huge giveaway & I got busted.

[Bloodsoul]

But I thought nobody put ranks in the Forgery skill?

[Mamochan]

Back in my navy days or WRDO(Weapon Repair Duty Officer) would keep his signature as simple as possible. That way I could sign his name at the midnight turnover. Smartest thing to do? Not really, but I was allowed to sleep through the 4am turnover in return.

[manybellsdown]

You're assuming he was allowed to have sodas, and had his own money with which to buy them...

I forged my dad's signature all the time at school, but I took it too far when I tried to forge a teacher's signature... & got it wrong, so I used white-out & redid it. Unsurprisingly, the use of white-out was a huge giveaway & I got busted.

Good point. And apparently my signature looks like a middle-schooler scrawled it anyway. I have signed permission slips for my daughter only to have the school call me checking that she didn't forge my signature.

[LewisLegion]

I forged my mother's name all the time...most of the time right in front of her.

My mother had very bad arthritis in her hands and could not sign things herself most of the time. So if I ever got a note or slip from school I would show it to her, and then she'd tell me to sign it for her. My sisters and I got very adept at signing her name. There were times she'd even have us sign checks for her at the grocery store (in front of the cashier, with an explination and permission granted before it happened). We even wrote our own excuse notes for school when we were out sick.

Strangely enough, I never forged her signature on any notes or reports without first showing them to her, though I totally could have gotten away with it.

[An Haddock]

But I thought nobody put ranks in the Forgery skill?

Or Diplomacy.