Of course not! I would rather it never happened, but after the fact not much you can do except not let it happen again, and maybe hope that the ill-gotten gains may have fed the kids, instead of buying a bottle.
Same thing happened to me a while back. She didn’t even have the kids on her, she just mentioned them and I guess, subconsciously, I let down my guard. It still burns. I have to remind myself that she is probably dead by now from a drug overdoes, or in jail.
Didn’t they pull this scam in the film Paper Moon (Ryan and Tatum O’Neil)?
Yep, it’s an old one.
And the fact that it is still being used testifies to the fact that it is an effective one, given human nature/mental functioning.
So, in other words, yes, you were a dupe, but you are in good company. 
I’ve seen a similar show where the person ends up giving out blank sheets of paper. The only person who caught it was the hot dog vender, and I suspect it was because English was not his first language, and he was expecting the fraud more easily.
Then again, it was by a magician, so the whole thing could have been a setup.
I was a teller for nearly 5 years at a big downtown bank. The lobby had a lot of traffic, as it was enormous and spanned a block - the teller area was a quarter block square alone, and lots of people would cut through the building. We had a “no service for anyone but clients” policy, but once in a while a teller would make an exception for someone breezing through and asking for change. It was usually change for a $100 bill - I don’t know if tellers thought it was more legit since it was a large bill or what. Two tellers in my line got quick-changed this way. Each for $50.
Both times it was because the teller didn’t follow the protocol that came after the already disregarded “no service for anyone but clients” rule, which was to always keep the bill you’re changing on the counter, and count everything twice before handing it over. Both of those tellers were smart people who were tellers for years with good records. But it was something about the scammer at the window that distracted them sufficiently to break protocol both times.
So, happens to the best of us. I had the same scam tried on me, I’m just not as inclined to try to be nice to people. I think especially if the scammer is starting to seem like they might make a fuss, we are more inclined to try to make them happy. I’m amazed I lasted as long as I did in jobs that dealt with the public. I’m just not that nice.
Marxxx, the amount of cash sales you’re doing is astonishing to me!
In my store, whenever there’s a bunch of (seemingly unrelated) screaming kids running around, I grab my cell phone, head out to the store and keep my eyes open. I’ll also make sure to grab the boss (my dad) and have him stay out there with me. I still remember one of the times we got ripped off. The store was loud and hectic, a bunch of kids running around then all of a sudden…quiet. It was odd that two families, one with crying twins and the other with a hyper toddler came in at different times but left almost at the same time. I didn’t think of it until one of my employees said “Hey look, all the lobster tails are gone”
The people that steal from us might be dumb as bricks, but they tend to be really really good at setting up a distraction.
I’ve also learned that if there’s some trailer trash looking guy nosing around the seafood case, it’s the well dressed woman at the other end of the store I need to keep my eye on.
I remember another one, started out like the others, lots of kids in the store, but this one had a new twist. A guy came to the doorway between the store and the backroom and asked for (in Spanglish) directions to some place. No problem, I start explaining how to get there. Then he pulled out a big folded up road map of Wisconsin and asked me to show him on there. Well, he held it up in such a way that I couldn’t see the store at all. I excused myself went and went to get Dad, one person could give him directions (he could very well have been perfectly legit) and the other kept on eye on everyone else.
I hate thinking the worst every time this scenario happens, but all it takes is one big ripoff to lose an entire day’s profit.
WRT the OP. All my cashiers know that if they start getting confused (and I realized, you often times don’t realize that your being confused) to CALL ME, or another manager. Sometimes all it takes is someone to step in and break their stride, if that makes sense. If you can get them out of their routine, you can usually straighten it all out. There have even been a few times where I’ve grabbed a calculator and counted the drawers right there in front of the customer and said “No, no you are not short ten dollars”
I dare say it’s all in the sport old chap. Why just the other evening in the East wing library I was rallying upon my second Macallan 1926, when nephew Chester arrived unannounced at the vestibule in so crass a scramble I could hardly right my breath. Feeling faint, I hurried at the sill, but Chester was presently before me chaperoning to my previous ensconce. “Oh uncle,” he said, “uncle! My creditors are at the gate! With great haste I implore you, ring the steward of the bullion chamber!” “For shame, dear boy,” said I, “never not a spot of trouble. Bring me my laptop at once!” An exchange of equities followed fast, a transfer of two hundred shares here, five hundred liens there, a thousand derivatives here, the 46th Presidency there… I should have slowed the rat down, but me the vain lush that I am wouldn’t quibble over a billion or two among family. And rightly so! But that’s the sport of it, I say. This time he got me good, but tomorrow is another day!
…that was by Derren Brown: officially on my coolest people in the world list.
Many MANY moons ago when I was 17 and working the camera deptartment in a store, someone came in and did this to me. He didn’t realize I’d been a paperboy since age 9, and was very good with change. He got to the third part of the scam and I realized I was being confused. I put all of the money in the drawer, closed it and called security. Really ruined his day trying to explain it was an innocent mistake to security.
later, Tom.
I find it hard to believe in that video that small talk would make a jewelry salesmen completely ignore the stack of blank paper bills handed to him, accept it as cash, and not count the $4500 out before completing the transaction. It wasn’t even rapid-fire small talk.
Please keep in mind that Brown is a trickster in more ways than one. He has often been spotted giving an explanation for something that was patently not true – not unlike many other magicians and magic routines, so I don’t intend to single him out for criticism. But that makes me doubt if the candid camera-style of recording was all that innocent. Maybe he set the audience up with the previous two episodes and the last was staged. At least that’s the way I would do it.
Never, EVER try and figure out this scam. Just take each transaction separate, always. **Always. ** Close the register after each sale.
And if that means that you can’t make change as the register won’t open unless there’s a sale, so be it.
I talked with the Ops Mgr and she told me the store in the West Suburbs of Chicago does 11% of their weekly sales (on average) in cash. This store in the city of Chicago does 43% of it’s average weekly sales in cash.
Since it’s a computer store, it just amazes me. I get at least one computer per day sold and paid in cash. So that is between $500 and $2,000.
Yesterday I had some guy checkout and buy 6 big screen TVs and pay cash ($750 each). He said, it was for a company Christmas party and they were giving them away as bonuses.
I thought, “Wow, can I get a job there” LOL
You know, too often a lot of dudes around here hypothesise something is “money laundering” and I have to say “Nope, doesn’t look like it.” However, this *does *appear to be money laundering.
Hard to say. Were some of the bills in need of another cycle in the dryer?
My suspicion as well. A company that can obviously afford to give away six big-screen TVs as door prizes at its Christmas party, but doesn’t purchase them with a company credit card?
Wonder if they’ll end up being returned by the “prizewinners” for cash refunds, or simply sold to third parties.
Hmmm… :dubious:
…I’m a huge fan of Brown: of course he’s a trickster and of course he is fooling us!
I concur that these people are very good at it, and it can take a while to notice you’ve been scammed. Seems a large risk to take for $10, though I guess if caught the scammer could just say, “whoops. I must’ve miscounted”.
I saw a variation on this once when I worked at a grocery store in college. Customer comes through and buys something small with a $50. A few minutes later, another customer comes through and buys something small with a $10. The cashier (I was bagging) put the bill in the drawer and counts out change. Customer says “No, I gave you a fifty.” Bit of back and forth ensues, manager comes over and customer says “Look, I gave her a fifty. I even recall it had a number written in pen on the back” Manager opens drawer, and sure enough, there’s a fifty with a number written in pen on the back. Manager gives him his “missing” $40. Cashier’s drawer later comes up $40 short at end of shift.
Some of these scams are no doubt possible because of the “customer is always right” philosophy of most businesses. Disputes with clients are avoided at all costs, especially questioning their motives or honesty. This is obviously a good policy in most cases, but the scammers take advantage of it.
That routine was well demonstrated in Paper Moon. Of course, the setup requires an accomplice to make a previous purchase with the marked bill. Then a cute little girl claims she was shortchanged, makes a scene, and when the marked bill is discovered in the till where she said it was, gets “refunded” with profuse apologies from the management.
I would recommend the original book that was the basis of Paper Moon, called Addie Pray, by Joe David Brown. The book covers more scams and tricks than the movie does, and it is told from the viewpoint of the little girl, who acts as treasurer and protector of her Dad. She uses her “innocence” and charm to save his crooked ass a few times.
It sure doesn’t seem like enough profit to be worth the hassle. She got ten dollars, and in return she had to buy a three-dollar item she probably doesn’t want or need. Plus she had to pack ker kids in the car and fight holiday traffic and crowds. She had to work longer for that seven bucks than if she had a job.
And if she tries it enough times, there will be an embarrassing incident with security. I know, some people are immune to embarrassment, but still, it further lowers the profit per hour “worked”.
In a mall, you can do this 4 times a hour, and sure, why not buy something you need?
It’s not a big money scam, but it is certainly a very common scam. Again, however, it shows that scamsters do not commonly prey upon the greedy.
Some people would rather work harder at scamming than they would have to by putting in a honest days work.