Cashier Prevents Elderly Woman Making Odd Purchase From Being Scammed

A caring cashier is responsible for thwarting a “granny scam” that would have seen a worried grandmother lose $2000 to criminals.

Kroger store cashier Shelly Yost was working when an elderly woman approached her trying to buy $2000 worth of iTunes gift cards. Curious about the purchase, Shelly asked the old woman why she was buying so much in gift cards.

The woman told her she had gotten a call saying that her granddaughter was in jail with a broken nose and that she needed to give the cards to the police to bail her out. That was a red flag to Shelly, who immediately knew the woman had been targeted by scammers.

Shelly told the woman that she was pretty sure that her granddaughter was okay and that she was being conned, but the woman refused to believe it was a scam. Knowing better, Shelly asked the woman to wait and called police so they could tell the woman that officers of the law would never accept gift cards as payment to bail someone out of jail.

Sylvania police got in touch with the old lady’s family, who reassured the elderly woman that everyone was fine.

Shelly also noticed that the woman lives in an assisted care facility and when she let them know what was going on they showed up the next day to thank her in person.

“The next day they showed up, and they were the most genuine people,” said Yost. “They hugged me so tight and thanked me over and over. And they handed me a card, which I took and said ‘Thank you’. When I opened it later, there was super nice gift in there.”

I’m so glad Shelly was on the look out for the elderly woman. No one should be taken advantage of like that!

Share this story if you appreciate what Shelly did!

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