Donegal businesses are being warned to watch out for a “quick change scam” after a premises in Ballybofey was duped into handing out cash.
The deceptive tactic sees a customer attempting to get more money than they are owed by confusing a cashier into giving them incorrect change.
It often involves paying for a small item with a large amount of money and then using a series of quick hand movements and confusing dialogue to make the cashier believe they need a different amount of change.
In the recent incident that occurred in Ballybofey, a few high-value banknotes were handed over and a request was made for smaller notes to be given in return.
Once this was done, a few of the smaller notes were then handed over and a further request was made to break those notes into smaller denominations.
The end result was that confusion was caused by all of the quick transaction requests and the float was down.
“Change scams are carried out in a very professional way and the cashier will often not even realise that they have been scammed until the float is counted later in the evening,” said garda spokesperson Grainne Doherty.
“These scammers may often target young and more inexperienced employees who may not be as aggressive in managing the confusion of multiple transactions and who are more wary of slowing down a line of customers.”
Employers are advised to instruct staff not to carry out such transactions, which they are not legally obligated to do for customers.
Garda Doherty added: “Our advice is to place a sign in a prominent position at the cash register stating that the cashier will not change denominations of notes for anyone. If the customer begins to bully or intimidate the cashier and the confusion escalates, the cashier should stop the transaction completely, ensure that the till is closed and call for the manager.”
