# The $20 change scam **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879 "2013-08-10T17:30:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rowanchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rowanchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rowanchilde)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/41 "2013-08-11T17:31:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I know you think it’s funny, but it’s not. Do customers come in to your job and ‘help’ you train your new employees? Agreed. I was thinking the same thing when I read his post… > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Honestly, I get your point and hope you get mine. Your cashiers will already know what happened before the ‘close the register’ part. If, as you say, you’d properly trained your cashiers, this couldn’t even happen since they’d have already verbally acknowledged the note tendered as discussed in this thread. > > Besides, this is a ‘made you look’ type thing that never fails to get a smile and that you-got-me **eye roll.** I wouldn’t do it in a grocery line (which I think you run), fast food joint or to someone who is going to wet their pants with fright, more like a quiet bike shop or bar where the cash handler has been helping me and we’ve been chatting for a while. > > As with all things humorous, tone and technique are of the essence. **If I did it to you, you’d have a chuckle.** No, I wouldn’t. Not even a tee-hee. But you would get the eye roll, just of a different essence … ---
**Author:** ![Rowanchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rowanchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rowanchilde)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/42 "2013-08-11T17:38:08Z")
I work cash out of my pocket in a very fast paced restaurant. It’s often I will have 6 different people at a table (the separate check scenario) all handing me 20$s at the same time. As soon as I take the bill it goes to the back of my stack and I count the change back. Same tactic as keeping it atop the register drawer… Rarely though, is there ever a descrepency… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/43 "2013-08-11T18:37:22Z")
This reminded me of an incident that happened while I was a teller, back in the days when we wore arm garters and green eyeshades. (Well, not quite that long ago… but I did wear polyester clip-on ties.) A guy tried to pull a really inept fast-change move on me, interrupting the count-out of $100 or so for changes… basically, the “two tens for a five” gag with some razzle-dazzle. He finally scooped up the pile and left in a hurry. I wonder how long it took him to realize he was $20 short… which showed up in my count at the end of the day and I told my ops officer exactly where it came from. She grinned and wrote it up as “unknown non-customer error.” If he’d ever had the cojones to come back in, he would have gotten his $20 back. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/44 "2013-08-11T19:39:01Z")
Watching your next paycheck flash before your eyes and evaporate, even for a few seconds, _ **is never ever, never, never, ever funny** _. The thoughts behind the grin, chuckle, eye roll, are something like, “I would really like to punch you in the face, but that would disappear my paycheck just like an over register would right now. I have to smile and take it, because that’s my job. But in my mind, right now, I’m stomping on your head.” That’s where the smile comes from. I’ve been both a teller at a large bank and worked a register. I’ve seen the scam from the customer side, and saw a teller lose his job over it. He went against policy of refusing to give change to non-customers. These people came in (on separate occasions, weeks apart) with a $100 bill and asked for change. If he were to go against policy in the first place and want to keep his job, you would think he would be extra careful, count deliberately, and not do any exchanges he didn’t have complete control over - as in have the bills away from the scammer so they can’t pull any fast moves. But no, he fell for the multiple change changes, more small bills, and oh, I changed my mind, to the tune of $50 each time. Dumbass. A good cashier has a routine, and sticks to it. I always, always placed the bill(s) on top of the drawer, stated the amount given to me, and counted back the change to the customer before putting the bills inside the drawer. Even then, it wasn’t perfect all the time, mistakes do happen. The key is to make sure they’re as few and far between as possible. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/45 "2013-08-11T20:37:23Z")
Happened to me at a Burger King once. The cashier’s response was “No. You didn’t. You gave me a ten.” And he wasn’t going to check at first. I started looking for a receipt that had purchases I’d made with a cashback amount for proof. Then he decided to check. $20 must have been in the $10 slot because he immediately handed me the rest of my change. The part that floored me was how he immediately dismissed my claim as if he didn’t make mistakes. No apology either. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/46 "2013-08-11T22:40:50Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > It works like this: let’s say the price for something is $3.90, and I hand the cashier a $20 bill. He puts the bill in the cash register drawer and hands me back $6.10 in change (one $5 bill, one $1 bill, and one dime)… > Has this ever happened to you? Just a couple days ago I paid with a twenty and got change back as though I’d handed over a $10 bill. I said “Uh, I gave you a twenty” (and fortunately the cashier hadn’t yet stowed the bill in the register). So I got the rest of my change without incident. I don’t think it was deliberate, but interestingly the cashier was one of those uber-Christians who tells all customers “Have a blessed day”. You’ve gotta watch those people like a hawk. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/47 "2013-08-11T23:38:21Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > As a cashier, I got customers attempting change scams pretty often. I also got plenty of situations where the customer was genuinely confused. Yes, this is my experience as both a cashier and a supervisor. Whenever a customer claimed to have been short-changed, it was our policy to count the drawer with an electronic counter (which took fifteen seconds, tops). A lot of times, when I told the customers I wanted to check the drawer first, they said, “Oh, never mind, it must have been my mistake,” and they practically ran away from the checkout. Yeah, nice try, people. And (shocker) that cashier’s drawer was almost always correct to the penny at the end of the night. On the other hand, when a customer agreed to have the drawer counted, there usually was the discrepancy the customer claimed there would be. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/48 "2013-08-11T23:48:25Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Happened to me at a Burger King once. The cashier’s response was “No. You didn’t. You gave me a ten.” And he wasn’t going to check at first. I started looking for a receipt that had purchases I’d made with a cashback amount for proof. Then he decided to check. $20 must have been in the $10 slot because he immediately handed me the rest of my change. > > The part that floored me was how he immediately dismissed my claim as if he didn’t make mistakes. No apology either. Most likely you’d be just as dismissive if you had people try the ‘I gave you a $20’ scam every damn shift… ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/49 "2013-08-11T23:50:40Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Most likely you’d be just as dismissive if you had people try the ‘I gave you a $20’ scam every damn shift… Every damn shift. and then laugh about it. Like **jnglmassiv** does. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/50 "2013-08-11T23:58:02Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Just a couple days ago I paid with a twenty and got change back as though I’d handed over a $10 bill. I said “Uh, I gave you a twenty” (and fortunately the cashier hadn’t yet stowed the bill in the register). So I got the rest of my change without incident. > > I don’t think it was deliberate, but interestingly the cashier was one of those uber-Christians who tells all customers “Have a blessed day”. > > You’ve gotta watch those people like a hawk. 🆒 It does occasionally happen. When I worked at the cash register for a few years in college, I don’t remember ever coming across somebody trying to scam cash from me, but I’m pretty sure at least once or twice I’ve counted the change out of 10 instead of 20 and got called on it and, sure enough, I’d see a $20 in the $10 slot. Despite the occasional error, I don’t recall register receipts being off by more than a couple of bucks in either direction at the end of the night, so if these errors were being made with any frequency, they were balanced out by errors in the customer’s favor. 🙂 There’s a more complex change scam that is perpetrated by the customer, but I can’t quite remember how it goes. It involves something like giving a 20 to the cashier, getting your change, and then “realizing” you need some smaller bills for something (or maybe you need the larger bill?), asking for the twenty back and redoing the transaction with different bills and somehow ending up with more change that you’re supposed to have with a bit of misdirection. Anyone know what the hell I am so badly remembering? ETA: Well, that was easy. First Google hit for [change scam.](http://www.snarlyboodle.com/the-quick-change-short-change-scam/) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/51 "2013-08-12T00:26:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s a more complex change scam that is perpetrated by the customer, but I can’t quite remember how it goes. It involves something like giving a 20 to the cashier, getting your change, and then “realizing” you need some smaller bills for something (or maybe you need the larger bill?), asking for the twenty back and redoing the transaction with different bills and somehow ending up with more change that you’re supposed to have with a bit of misdirection. Anyone know what the hell I am so badly remembering? The people who wrote posts 26, 29, 39, and 43 could probably help. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/52 "2013-08-12T00:37:05Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > The people who wrote posts 26, 29, 39, and 43 could probably help. :smack: Apparently, I suffer from selective blindness. Well, it’s about time this has happened to me after getting annoyed by others who don’t read through the thread. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the other posts, but I should have seen #29, as that actually describes the scam in the post. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/53 "2013-08-12T02:13:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > :smack: Apparently, I suffer from selective blindness. Well, it’s about time this has happened to me after getting annoyed by others who don’t read through the thread. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the other posts, but I should have seen #29, as that actually describes the scam in the post. You are a very gracious person. That was one of the nicest replies I’ve ever read here when someone gets called out for not reading the whole thread. Good job.🙂 I always pay attention to my change, and have only gotten shortchanged twice. One time, I told the cashier that it was wrong and she gave me the correct money back without argueing with me. The other time, the cashier told me that I was wrong, so I asked for the manager. He didn’t count the drawer, he just gave me my money. I also was given more money than I should have, so drove out of my way to return the money. The manager was gobsmacked that anyone would do that, but it was the right thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/54 "2013-08-12T02:58:17Z")
Oops! Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/55 "2013-08-12T12:31:45Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Most likely you’d be just as dismissive if you had people try the ‘I gave you a $20’ scam every damn shift… I’m sure enough people did give him a $20 that he has to know it can’t be a scam every time. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/56 "2013-08-12T18:03:04Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > From the other side of the register, you sometimes hear the clerk say “Out of twenty” or similar. > This is to prevent the customer from claiming they gave a $50 note or whatever. > > Another scam: > An accomplice pays for the cup of coffee with a marked (Happy Birthday, Perp!) $100 bill. > The perp later enters the shop and pays for a cup with a $20 but then insists they gave the hundred. Perp can then refer to the bill marking as ‘proof’. Wait, there are coffee shops that get enough $100 bills that the cashier doesn’t remember that they already got one earlier that shift (and doesn’t at least glance at each one long enough to notice markings)? Seems like it would be easier just to pass crude counterifeits of $100 bills at those coffee shops, it nobody looks at them. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/57 "2013-08-12T19:16:19Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > From the other side of the register, you sometimes hear the clerk say “Out of twenty” or similar. > This is to prevent the customer from claiming they gave a $50 note or whatever. > > Another scam: > An accomplice pays for the cup of coffee with a marked (Happy Birthday, Perp!) $100 bill. > The perp later enters the shop and pays for a cup with a $20 but then insists they gave the hundred. Perp can then refer to the bill marking as ‘proof’. Everywhere I’ve ever worked, the procedure was that any time someone claimed they gave you that large an amount and got back the wrong change, we’d go and recount the till to see if it was over. So good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/58 "2013-08-12T21:54:58Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Wait, there are coffee shops that get enough $100 bills that the cashier doesn’t remember that they already got one earlier that shift (and doesn’t at least glance at each one long enough to notice markings)? It wasn’t a coffee shop, but I used to work in a shop in an upscale area and a remarkable number of people would try to pay for an under $20 purchase with a $100 bill. In some cases it was very much bragging (see how much money I have!) but a couple were possibly attempted scams. I could imagine some coffee shop locations getting multiple Benjies during a shift due to that sort of rich idiot. ---
**Author:** ![LouLou7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LouLou7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouLou7)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/59 "2013-08-12T22:14:28Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > No reason you can’t still be witty, though. You’ll have the cashier in stitches with a well-timed “working hard or hardly working?” and should an item fail to scan, you can bring the house down by quipping “I guess it must be free, then!” HEY!!! I think you stole both of those great lines from me! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879/60 "2013-08-13T00:50:43Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > My mom always says “Out of twenty” or whatever when she pays cash.. That’s what my mother always told me to do, but I never bothered. I did pay attention to see if it ever happened, and if it did, it went right by me. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > A guy tried to pull a really inept fast-change move on me, interrupting the count-out of $100 or so for changes… basically, the “two tens for a five” gag with some razzle-dazzle. He finally scooped up the pile and left in a hurry. I wonder how long it took him to realize he was $20 short… which showed up in my count at the end of the day and I told my ops officer exactly where it came from. She grinned and wrote it up as “unknown non-customer error.” > [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s a more complex change scam that is perpetrated by the customer, but I can’t quite remember how it goes. It involves something like giving a 20 to the cashier, getting your change, and then “realizing” you need some smaller bills for something (or maybe you need the larger bill?), asking for the twenty back and redoing the transaction with different bills and somehow ending up with more change that you’re supposed to have with a bit of misdirection. Anyone know what the hell I am so badly remembering? > [@Siam Sam](#): > > I did some cash-registering as a young lad in West Texas, and the $20 scam that was common then and there was when a scammer customer would make a small purchase with a $20 bill, then after you’d given him his change he would say something like, “Oh, can I get a couple of fives instead of a 10? Thanks, Oh shit, wait, I need some ones, can you do that? Ah man, I just remembered, here let me have …” By the time he was finished, he’d have his $20 back and then some. That doesn’t really explain it to me, though, since to get two fives for the 10 you have to give back the 10. But I know there’s a way to pull this. I remember a friend arriving home after work and explaining what had just happened at a very busy small grocery & wine shop that did a _lot_ of business, near UMich campus. It was something like the above: a guy asking for change and then changing his mind a couple times. My friend said all of a sudden he noticed that most of the money on the counter was the store’s money, so he scooped it up and called “SECURITY!” (they always had guards nearby). The guy lit out of there in a big hurry, possibly leaving his starter bill. While I get the idea, I don’t really quite follow the mechanics of it. Neither did my friend, who said it happened pretty fast, and each small change seemed to make sense, until the lightbulb clicked on. Need to know, fast. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-20-change-scam/665879.md?page=4)