Have I been conned??

nobodythere

I work in a shop near the local college so it's getting really hectic around this time of year, exam time. Last Friday I was really tired and overloaded from the shop being so busy and was in a generally shíte mood anyway for personal reasons.

This guy came into the shop while it was busy with an english accent, bought some stuff for €4 and gave me a €100 note. He didn't seem like he was all that familiar with euros. So he was talking away to me just about random things, and I gave him his change. He started saying that he wanted to keep the €100 note so started giving me change of 20s and stuff to swap with the 100. I was starting to get a bit overloaded at this point and confused and after a lot of pushing money back and forth to me he said I still owed him the 96 euro, and somehow that made sense to me after all that, so I paid him an extra 96 euro for the till.

It was about 5 minutes after he left before I even realised what I'd just done. For whatever reason I just couldn't get my head around what had just happened, didn't know if I gave him the change twice or what. I even went and wrote down on a piece of paper what had just happened to try figure it out. Eventually I realised that I had done something stupid by looking at the tills and realised that at one point during the transaction I had a €100, a €50 and a few 20s, and now I just had a few 20s.

It was a really embarrassing mistake and a stupid one, and in the midst of my awful day up to then I couldn't bring myself to tell my boss what I'd done. I probably would have started crying if I did! These things really eat away at my conscience, so I'm going in to tell him today and offer him back his money, which takes a lot of balls for me considering it took me a month and a half to build up to telling him I was quitting.

Now a friend of mine who works in Dunnes says they have signs up about these things and that this is a con job and is happening all over the place, but I'm not sure if she's just trying to make me feel better or what. Did I get conned do you think or did I just screw up badly?

CiaranC

This is a common con, it was even on Paul Daniels show a few years back. The retailer should have his staff briefed about this sort of thing.

Boston

It's an old con.

Umaro

Did I get conned do you think or did I just screw up badly?

A little bit of both. The important thing is not to get too caught up in being ashamed you got conned, it happens to people every day. I'm sure if you explain to your boss how it happened the consequences won't be terrible. You should stop beating yourself up over it, bad stuff happens to everyone at some point. Try not to dwell on it.

Faith

Sounds like you got conned, and well. This guy is obviously a pro and anyone could fall for it. Money is really confusing at the best of times. You know when you're splitting a bill with your friends and you've only got a big note and you're trying to work out how much you need back? Everyone gets confused. Your boss will probably be pissed off but will hopefully understand that it was a professional con man. Your boss should also call the police and let them know.

It wasn't your fault, don't worry too much about it!

Hagar

It's an old trick all right, you have been had. Look on the bright side though at least you weren't beaten over the head with an iron bar while you were being ripped off.

nobodythere

I've never heard a word about it...


I don't know how he managed to do it though. I don't even know how the hell he managed to pull something like that off, is it just his general body language and sounding sure of himself that made me pay him out or what or is there some verbal trick that he used to confuse me. To be honest I wouldn't even be able to tell you the text of the conversation because my brain was just somehow overloaded.

kaimera

Simple answer "Sorry, we don't take €100 notes".

I wouldn't take it from a guy who just walked in regardless unless he was a local and even then, only if the boss okay'd it.

Faith

Confusion, distraction, diversionary tricks... He distracted you by talking, making sure you couldn't concentrate on the money. Then he confused you by pushing lots of notes around the place so you couldn't keep track of them. He made you think he had just given you lots of money and then asked for change.

nobodythere

If it wasn't a con I was going to offer my boss the money back. Do you think I should do the same if it was a con job? Should I be liable for this (in the moral sense, not the legal one)? My boss has never mentioned anything about potentially being conned.

I'm sort of thinking that being liable for a con job would be like being liable if someone robbed the till

oulu

What is the con how is it done just for future ref

Hagar

grasshopa wrote:

I'm sort of thinking that being liable for a con job would be like being liable if someone robbed the till

I would totally agree with you there, you are the victim of a crime.
You were deliberately targeted by a professional thief.

Doodee

Hagar wrote:

It's an old trick all right,

Illusion! A trick is what a whore does for money!

OT: Its a common enough con, used to have some gypsies try it all the time when i worked in templebar.
I wouldn't worry about it, i also wouldn't go handing my own money out to put in the till, might encourage the shop keeper to inform his staff of such occurances.

nobodythere

I don't know if he was. He did seem like a very nice guy, though I know that's the con job way. It is entirely possible that I just didn't get conned, that this here english fella was just confused and new to euros and made a genuine mistake. But somehow I was thinking for about 5 minutes after I knew I'd given him the money that he wouldn't come back because he was confused about the money and gave off the impression that he didn't really know how much he had in the first place. Then I realised that that's just ridiculous and regardless of currency, you'd know if you had an extra €96 euro in your wallet. I'd feckin know that if I was in the backarse of kazakhstan.

Ah I dunno. Ah well, time to stop procrastinating, I'm gonna go tell my boss

johnnyrotten

grasshopa wrote:

Have I been Conned?

YES

conzy

Something like this happened me the other day. I am 16 and I work in a Local PC Shop and I usually Build PCs and repair PCs and I dont deal with the public too often, but the other day I had to serve in the shop....

Anyway, I was serving a wowan at the time, and a lad came in and said that he wanted to return an unopened USB stick and change it for a "travelmate +", he seemed very friendly and was hard to understand, He said he was talking to my employer and that his name was alex Fletcher, He didnt even have a receipt and I didnt have the "travelmate +" in stock and before I knew it I was giving him back cash!!

I only had €50 in the till so I gave him that, So I took a note in the diary that i owed him another €30.

is it just his general body language and sounding sure of himself that made me pay him out or what or is there some verbal trick that he used to confuse me

Yeah, he sounded so convincing and even mentioned my employers name:mad:

It took me a few minutes to cop what happened, and I didnt want to beleive it happened, I was hoping that my empolyer knew an Alex Fletcher:D

I felt so stupid afterwards, but Im lucky the till wasnt full

the_syco

kaimera wrote:

Simple answer "Sorry, we don't take €100 notes".

They also use €50 notes. €100 notes are just forbidden, more or less, and we're not meant to "just give change away", unless they actually buy something (even then, they still do the refund thing).

madhitchhiker

i think its a con job..you just have to explain to him and i'm sure he would understand...i wonder if your boss had been conned or he at least have encountered one in his life..im sure he would understand..

Doodee

With large denominations such as €100, €200 and €500 being used is small transactions you can be fairly sure it is a con once they ask for the note back.

You were conned. no matter what false impressions he gave you he was there to make money. why use a note that large and then ask for it back. just doesn't work that way.

CiaranC

You cant refuse to take a €100 note, its legal tender.

This con can be done with any note. If the guy pulled it with a €20 we wouldnt be having this conversation, the OP wouldnt even have noticed.

whippet

CiaranC wrote:

You cant refuse to take a €100 note, its legal tender.

that is not true

any private business or person can choose how they want to be paid for goods or services, if the customer agrees then deal done.

Pythia

CiaranC wrote:

You cant refuse to take a €100 note, its legal tender.

This con can be done with any note. If the guy pulled it with a €20 we wouldnt be having this conversation, the OP wouldnt even have noticed.

AFAIK, you can refuse to give change. It's up to the customer to provide you with the correct change for the transaction.

Hagar

Pythia wrote:

AFAIK, you can refuse to give change. It's up to the customer to provide you with the correct change for the transaction.

I imagine you could refuse to make the sale but you couldn't keep the customer's change if you make the sale and accept the note tendered.

Common sense should prevail. A €100 note offered in payment for purchase of let's say €70 would not be unreasonable, while the same note for a €2 or €3 purchase would be a bit OTT. Bear in mind that many people just have to make do with whatever notes the ATM dispenses. You can easily end up with a couple of €50 notes and no way to get change.

nobodythere

I told my boss, I'm VERY glad it's off my conscience.

He didn't seem to think it was a con job, but I didn't put too much emphasis on it because I thought he'd think I was just making excuses. I told him the time and date so he could find it on the cameras and see what he thought for himself. He said he appreciates the honesty.

The thing is, we always get €50 notes because students are fscking loaded plus they always just go to ATMs for cash and if you ask for more than €50 they'll give you 50 notes always.

dalk

Hi...

Like everyone said its a con. I'm even pretty sure Derren Brown performed it on one of his shows...

Anyway, here's a video (its the last example) to show your boss.

You heard about the money change game, where clever con artists give you a large monetary bill, then ask for change, followed by more change. Here is a con artist (who is a tourist) who does this trick, and then with the help of his wife distracts the attendant while he keeps a large bill. Visec caught the entire crime, which was so professionally done it had to be watched in super slow motion. The police found this person possessing the large bill and arrested him.

No sound unfortunately, but its obvious that they go out of their way to confuse the girl on the till.

Bamboozled

Didnt you check the till and see if it was down money at the end of the day?

Or does your employer cash up? Either way it would be noticeable at the end of the day.

Then you'd know for certain.

stevejazzx

oulu wrote:

What is the con how is it done just for future ref

mr x arrives in shop looking befuddled,

brings something relatively small to till, will be talkative and nice produces a 50 euro and hands to cashier, cashier starts to organise change, he make a comment about the wheather or something more engaging and then sudeenly before cashier has time to answer he interrupts by saying 'oh actually i've change for that' could i have my (indicates the 50 note with body language, avoids saying the word 50 as its too of an much association for the cashier) cashier starts to hand back the note, he might remark on a store feature to distract and will start fumbling for change (in the case above the conman pretended to be foreign in dealing with the currency so as to engage the help of the cashier in organinsing his change) so he eventually pays for the goods with coins or smaller note, (deftly tucks away the 50 note ) and 'suddenly' realises 'oh i didnt get 50 back off you (in case above a variation where he asks for the change from 100 note which has in fact been handed back to him, cleverly knew there wasnt another 100 note in till) usually they go for another complete 50/100 note from the till (obviously relying on the shop having at least a couple of these notes available, which is why they rarely use 100 notes as 50 notes are more reliable, its quite easy to pull off, although darren brown is a knob, he excels at this kind of thing, its his bag

ando

dalk wrote:

Anyway, here's a video (its the last example) to show your boss.

wow see him taking money out of the girls hand, and the wife getting involved to, nowonder the girl gets confused

When I was working in McDs a while back, two guys went to opposite ends of the counters and pulled this stunt on two cashiers, who lost a fair bit of money from it. Definitely a con

gline

to the OP, dont worry about it. it could happen to anyone wether a con or not. But dont be handing over your own cash to the boss, that is not on. Its too bad the boss is down 100, you were stressed, these things can happen.

what did your boss say?

skyhighflyer

To the OP:

Yes you were conned.

And no you don't need to worry about it.

The same happened to me where I work (Roma gypsies - enough said :mad: )

So you boss or company is down €96. BFD.

Why should you feel bad about it - the person commiting the crime is the only person who did something morally wrong here.

Just make sure it doesn't happen again - I'm sure it won't it never did for me anyway three years on....

fletch

I used to work in a major department store....same guy used to come in on busy weekends....he'd know the new staff and the staff who knew he was so he'd target the new staff....used the exact same ploy as described by the OP....HE used to move from till to till ....one busy Sunday on the run up to Christmas, he scammed over 5 tils in the space of a few mins! Its only a few mins after that people realise what's happened.

Dave!

I don't think you should be responsible for this... If someone came in and held a gun to your head and took all the money, should you feel compelled to pay it back? Nope, you're the victim. Same with this con, you didn't do it on purpose, you were intentionally chosen and manipulated. Don't feel responsible, the guy's obviously a pro.

highlight100

Just put the whole thing down to expirence..

nobodythere

Done and done... Learned my lesson well

Cheers for all the help

Attol

Happened to me once. There was a power cut along the whole street and we had a couple of tills still running off a back up supply. There were no cameras and only a couple of lights working. A guy did this to me with a £20 and was being overly friendly when I told him I had already given him back the money he had given me. He was very persuasive and in the end I gave in as I knew the cameras weren't working so I couldn't go check for myself.

Gillo

Yeah it's a con alright, it's jsut a pity you were having a crap day, it obviously made you feel worse.

Having worked in retail for years all I can say is it happened you today, it'll happen someone else tomorrow so don't beat yourself up too much. My way of avoiding it is simply take as much time as you need when working out cash, if there is a big queue of people let them wait, simply take your time and make sure you you know what you are doing not what the customer is telling you they are doing. (yeah I knwo it's easier said than done).

As for telling you boss and offering to pay the shop back
THATS THE MOST HONEST THING I HAVE SEEN IN YEAR'S - RESPECT FOR THAT

Calibos

skyhighflyer wrote:

To the OP:

Yes you were conned.

And no you don't need to worry about it.

The same happened to me where I work (Roma gypsies - enough said :mad: )

So you boss or company is down €96. BFD.

Why should you feel bad about it - the person commiting the crime is the only person who did something morally wrong here.

Just make sure it doesn't happen again - I'm sure it won't it never did for me anyway three years on....

Ditto. With a slight variation which made it even worse. I had never served Roma before but was wary all the same as they looked dodgy coming in in such a large group. Paid me with a 100 note and then asked for it back. "Hold on a sec, this could be a con", I thought to myself. "100 back mister sir", after handing me back the change out of 100 I had given them "Yeah ,yeah, when you give me the price of the goods to bring the money in my hand back to 100. Thats when you get your hundred back." They handed over the balance and I handed them the 100 and they quickly left the shop.

"Ha, think you can try a con on me!!" Then I started to put the 100 in assorted notes and change back into the till. It then dawned on me that they had pocketed a few of the notes and doubled over the others to make it look like they were giving me all my change back. ARRGGGHHH!!:mad:

Never got done with that con or variation thereof again. Next time I had Roma in one of the guys wanted to pay me for a packet of chewing gums with 4x100 euro notes!! "Eh no.....you're a bit new at this aren't you or else you think I am a total effing eejit!!" I still take large notes from Roma btw though. When I assertain that its a con I am very careful to get the correct money back before handing their note back to them. Before I hand it back though I often right CON on it so the next shop worker they try it on will be aware straight away. For people who proclaim to you when they come in, "no speaky englishy" the narky look on their face when they see what you have written on the note gives the game away that they know they have been rumbled and also prevented from using that note for a con again.

NB. I do know you are not supposed to deface currency but I get pleasure from knowing that no matter what they try to spend the money on in the future whether con or not, they will get suspicious treatment and end up having to redeem the note in a bank where the defaced note will be taken out of circulation. This isn't a racist thing, this is a con artist Irish, Roma or otherwise thing.

Another time this Irish lad tried it. I told him I had given him the full change for the 100 euro note. He said I still owed him 50. I told him the 50 I owed him was in his back pocket. He denied it and became all indignant about me accusing him of being a conman. Well I did say, "Oh this old con!" A bit of toing and froing of You owe me 50...No I don't...yes you do. Then he played the guards card. I want you to call the guards down here because you have defamed my character and you still owe me 50. Now at this stage a new young shop assistant might cave and think this guy must be serious, I don't need this hassle etc and hand over a 50 to be rid of the guy.

I called his bluff though and reached for the phone book and handed it to a regular and asked them to look up the number of the local station. Fair play to her, she copped the scenario to a tee and took her good time looking for the number, keeping the bluff going and making him sweat. After a couple of minutes he start to crack and asked me what we needed the guards for, sure how would they know what change I had or hadn't given him. "Hey I thought you wanted me to ring the guards!" "Look you owe me 50 and thats that". He hung in there for another minute and then pretended to search his pockets and whaddya know, "Oh I just found the 50....it was in my back pocket. I smiled and he left the shop mouthing "Ya cnut" through gritted teeth.

Kind of made up for the Romas getting the better of me.

If you don't actually refuse to take the high denomination note in the first place the best thing to do when they ask for the note back is to complete the transaction of change regardless. ie don't hand their big note back straight away or end up with both the note and their change in your hands at the same time (recipe for confusion that)place the big note sitting on the till drawer, hand them the change (or place it on the counter in front of them) you were going to give them anyway. ie you now have the big note and they now have the correct change in their hand. Tell them to add money to that pile of change in their hand(or on the counter) to bring it back up to the denomination of the big note. Once they do that then take the change and count it to make sure it adds up to the big note denomination and then and only then hand them their big note back.

Remember they don't just hand you the change you gave them straight back to you to get their big note back. In that case you have still been conned. You're down the price of the goods and they've got the goods too! They have to add the price of the goods back into the change before handing it back to you to get their big note back......Oh and don't forget to write CON on the note!

scoby

These guys are really skilled at what they do. When someone tried it on me I recognised scam because I'd been warned about it. Even so I still thought I'd short changed the guy when he was asking for his money back. It was only because I'd noticed how many 50's I had in my till that I knew he already had it.
Went back and looked at the camera later and still couldn't see when or how he'd done it.

lucrative business if you can make 50 in 2 mins

JackieChan

Excellent post Calibos. Nice insight to this con