I helped a needy mother buy her baby food, but then she tried to scam me out of £600
He was just trying to be a good Samaritan.
But one man’s kind gesture backfired when he lost almost £600.
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Adryan was in the supermarket when he was approached by a woman who asked him if he could help her buy baby food for her granddaughter, because she “really needed it”.
He agreed and the original woman purchased some formula and what appeared to be a cereal from the baby aisle.
But things changed when she met a woman who claimed to be her daughter.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I heard about the baby!’ and she was like, ‘Yes, thank you so much, thank you for helping me. You don’t understand, I’ll pay you back and pray for you.'”
The ‘daughter’ then asked him if he would like to buy another item for her, to which he again agreed.
“She goes to an aisle that’s not the baby food aisle, but it was still in the baby section, the baby section,” he continued. TikTok video.
Adryan added that the woman “knew exactly where the items were” and called it “suspicious.”
Then the ‘mother’ came back with more things in the basket and they walked together to the checkout.
At that point, it was the woman who introduced herself as the baby’s mother, to distract him while the total was added up.
But she did so by reciting the exact same speech he had already heard from her own “mother,” making Adryan even more concerned that he was being targeted.
“You guys have got to tell me why the price, when they’re done scanning, is $800 (£606),” he said.
“Madam, you must be thinking I’m crazy. You must.
“You probably thought I’d be an easy target.”
Adryan pretended to take an emergency call and quickly ran out of the store with the items he had bought. At that moment his daughter had the “guts” to tell him that he had forgotten to pay for their groceries.
As Adryan ran out of the Super Target store in Texas, he saw the two women claiming to be mother and daughter leaving along with a group of other women.
“They were scanning baby clothes, they were doing technology,” he concluded.
How to Protect Yourself from Scams
Keeping these tips in mind can help you avoid getting into a scam situation:
- First of all, remember that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
- Check if brands are ‘verified’ on Facebook and Twitter pages. This means the company has a blue check mark on its profile.
- Look for grammatical and spelling errors; scammers are notoriously bad at writing correct English. If you receive a message from a “friend” informing you of a free gift, consider whether it is written in your friend’s normal style.
- If you are invited to click on a URL, hover over the link to see the address you are being taken to. Does it look authentic?
- To be completely safe, don’t click on unsolicited links in messages, even if they appear to come from a trusted contact.
- Also, be careful when opening email attachments. Fraudsters are increasingly attaching files, usually PDFs or spreadsheets, that contain dangerous malware.
- If you receive a suspicious message, report it to the company, block the sender, and delete the message.
- If you think you have fallen for a scam, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or use the website online fraud reporting tool.
“I said baby food, you tried to trick me. Warning!”
And in the comments, people revealed the second part of the scam. One of them wrote that after leaving, he returned the receipt to the cashier to get his money back and left with the money.
“They are bringing it back to refund it,” one person wrote.
“I’ve heard this on a few TikToks.”
“Oh wow. I was late to the game,” Adryan replied.
“The best thing about this scam is that they ask for the receipt when you pay,” adds another.
“But they do that so they can bring it back and get the money.”
“Look, and if I were to pay in the end, I would take the receipt with me!” Adryan insisted.
As a third said: “My brother had them like that at Walmart too.
“And asked for the receipt!”
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