Thread: Scam fyi

This happened to me Feb 22nd. I want to share this in hopes of preventing one of you from falling for the same scam.

I was shopping at Walmart. A young woman (foreigner) looked to be around 32 years old. She was carrying a small infant wrapped in a blanket while pushing a shopping cart with diapers and baby formula in one corner of the cart. She spoke very broken english and asked me if I could read her phone. The message on her phone said that she just fled her home in Ukraine because of nearby war. She had not been here long enough to find work and her baby was hungry. Would I please by the food and diapers? Not really knowing the current cost of such things, I estimated $80. I asked to see the baby uncovered to make sure it was real. It was real. Thinking about it really hard, I agreed and we walked to the check out. I decided that since being unsure of the situation, I would use one of my unused, low limit cards. I bagged while she scanned. When the last item was bagged I moved to the screen to pay. $487 was the total! I decided that I had agreed and my thoughts were about feeding a baby escaping a horrible war. Too late to change my mind. She started crying and hugged me about 4 times and left.

After getting home, I started feeling more like I was a victim. I called Walmart and asked if a woman had returned some baby formula in the last hour. They said no, so I told them the short version of why I had called. The woman on the phones voice changed when asking me was she a young middle easterner with a baby? I confirmed that she was. Then she said that they know her being in this store before. The baby is not hers. She usually goes 30 miles down the road and returns it for cash at a different Walmart store. Then she said that not all Walmarts have the same return policy. The one I shop at will automatically return the money back to the card that was used. Some will refund by Walmart gift cards, or cash. Great I am a victim. I waited until today (2/24) to check my cards account. Sure enough... she went to the next store and returned half of the items. I do not know how it was handled, but I am sure that she has spending money and I have the total bill to pay.

I could be worse off, I guess. I just feel safer in a town of only 11,000 people than I should. My lesson learned is not to trust strangers anymore. I worked hard for my retirement so I should keep it for my needs. Since the day I was born I've had more law enforcement officers in my family than not. Still to this day I have a few left. I hear the stories... so I should have known better.

Please be warned! This is not the "old days" and being helpful and trusting is not a thing anymore.

I’m sorry this happened to you! Your compassion will be rewarded maybe not here on earth but in heaven.