SYLVANIA, OH (WTOL) - A Kroger cashier saved the day when she spotted a granny scam in progress and stopped it!
An elderly woman recently went into a Kroger store on Monroe street in Sylvania, trying to buy $2,000 worth of iTunes gift cards.
The cashier, who was curious about the purchase, asked the woman why she was buying so much in gift cards.
The woman told her she had gotten a phone call saying her granddaughter was in jail with a broken nose and that she needed to give the cards to the police to bail her out.
"I want to let you know your granddaughter is okay. This is a scam that we know happens."
The woman refused to believe it was a scam, but Shelly Yost knew better.
"I asked her if she would please wait and let me call the Sylvania police, so they could tell her that they would never accept gift cards as payment for somebody in jail," said Yost. "I didn't want her to go somewhere else."
Sylvania police arrived and talked the woman down. They even got in touch with her family, who reassured the woman that her granddaughter was fine.
Shelly noticed the woman had a key chain with the name of an assisted living facility. She called the facility to let them know what was going on.
"The next day they showed up, and they were the most genuine people," said Yost. "They hugged me so tight and thanked me over and over. And they handed me a card, which I took and said 'Thank you'. When I opened it later, there was super nice gift in there."
She says the gift was not necessary, but she really appreciated it.
Shelly says these type of scams don't always happen in their area, but it's definitely something the associates at the store look out for and are warned about through their district manager.
