A supermarket clerk in Washington was able to stop a woman from losing thousands in a scam.
Fake IRS phone scam of a new variety
MyEdmondsNews.com reports a 54-year-old woman approached a Safeway clerk trying to buy $2,400 in prepaid cards. But the clerk smelled something fishy.
Upon questioning, the woman revealed that she’d received a call from a man who claimed to be with the IRS contacting her about an unpaid tax bill. Worse yet, the man claimed to be holding the woman’s daughter hostage and threatened to kill her if she didn’t pay up.
The clerk became suspicious and contacted the police who were able to determine the woman’s daughter was safe, and that this was all just a horrible scam.
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I love this story for so many reasons. First, I adore that this employee took time to more than serve this customer and save the woman’s money. Second, kudos to the police for stepping in so quickly. But as always, the criminal was not caught.
Impostor scams are one of the fastest-growing areas of fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The IRS will *never* contact you over the phone about back taxes.
Be careful out there and thank goodness for the actions of one commendable supermarket clerk and the proactive police work that brought this to a happy ending!
