Two target employees helped save an elderly couple from a very expensive scam. It all started when they walked in and asked for two $2,000 gift cards.
Earlier this year, a couple received a phone call from someone posing as a police officer. They said they had arrested their grandson. The only way they’d be able to get their beloved grandson out of jail was if they would need to purchase two target gift cards at $2,000 each.
Although this might sound fishy to many people from the get-go, the senior couple didn’t know any better and only cared about their grandson. They immediately went to Target to meet the “police officer’s” demands and purchase the gift cards.
When the couple went to pay for the $4,000 in gift cards, cashier Matthew Drye, couldn’t help but notice the odd purchase. He decided to ask them a question.
Drye asked the couple why they were purchasing the gift cards and after hearing her explanation, he brought over another co-worker named Mariah Thomas. They told them that they believed they were falling prey to the “grandparent scam.”
According to CBS News, the “grandparent scam” usually “involves the scammer calling senior citizens, impersonating a grandchild in distress, begging for cash. In 2015 alone, the Federal Trade Commission received 10,565 “family/friend impostor” fraud complaints, according to the AARP. Earlier this year, the FTC reported that impostor scams have overtaken identity theft as the biggest fraud problem in the country.
It turns out their suspicions were correct. Their grandson was not in jail — he was safe at home.
“This simple act of kindness made the couple question their decision and they too recognized they had fallen victim to a heartless scam,” said the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.
The two cashiers’ act of kindness caught the attention of many. The Hanover Sheriff’s Office awarded both Drye and Thomas with Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Challenge Coins for preventing the couple from becoming victims.
“As law enforcement officers, we can’t be in all places at all times. It warms my heart to see our citizens go above and beyond to help each other, which in turn acts as another set of eyes and ears for the Sheriff’s Office. Mr. Tebbens and Ms. Thomas prove, once again, why Hanover County is such a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” said Colonel David R. Hines, sheriff on Facebook.
The “grandparent scam” continues to this day and targets the elderly. For more on this story of kindness, the video is below.
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Featured image credit: Fox 10, WCPO 9
