When you walk into a store with thousands of dollars to spend, you’d think a store associate would be eager to help you part with your money. However, it appears that this is not always the case. When Cecil Rogers walked into Walmart prepared to spend all of his money, the person behind the checkout counter blessed him by refusing to assist him.
When Rogers was anticipating spending Christmas with his grandchildren, the incident happened. They were all on their way to Rogers’ house on Elmwood Place, but Rogers got a call from someone posing as his grandson before they arrived. Then, things really began to take a weird turn.
The “grandson” described to Rogers how he had been involved in an automobile accident. He allegedly struck the automobile of a pregnant woman. The grandson informed Rogers that he was being detained in jail after being accused of driving while intoxicated.
“Papaw, this is your oldest grandson. I’m in trouble.” the voice said on the phone.
Then he abruptly handed the phone to his “attorney.” The “attorney” demanded Rogers to send money when he answered the phone. The lawyer told him that he needed to go to Wal-Mart and transfer $2,300 of his money to another store in order to assist his grandchild. That cash would be collected and used to post the grandson’s bail so he could be released. Once he had the money, he convinced Cecil that everything would be OK.
The poor guy was completely caught off guard and was in a panic. Before it was too late, he quickly hung up the phone and left the house to rush to his grandkids’ aid. He quickly rushed to his bank, withdrew the money, and then immediately went to his neighborhood Wal-Mart to send it. He wasn’t even hesitant to query the phone call because he was so concerned about his grandson. All he could think about was sending that cash.
Now, scammers like this have become more prevalent in the digital era, due to how simple it is to communicate with strangers online and over the phone. People are left more open to scammers than ever before due to this distance from in-person interactions.
These vile criminals set up deceptive traps so that victims will give their money without even realizing they are being duped until it is too late. But thankfully, Cashier Audrella Taylor just stubbornly refused to execute his transaction and asked exactly why he was sending that amount of money.
From what the old man told her, she realized instantly that her instincts were correct and that something was not right. She did not want to see Rogers fall victim to fraud so she decided to help him out.
“I’m not going to let you send that money. I think you are being scammed,” the cashier stop the elderly man.
Taylor asked him if any of his other family members had been contacted by either the grandson or his “lawyer”. He admitted that they hadn’t. When Taylor discovered that the boy’s mother, Rogers’ daughter, had not been contacted, she realized that Rogers was the victim of a scam. That was all the evidence she needed to be certain that something was amiss because she was aware that, in the event of a serious injury, the grandson’s mother, and not the grandfather, should have been contacted first.
Finally, Audrella persuaded him not to send the money just yet. She calmed him down before calling his other family members. She was confident that he would discover that his grandson was fine, and she was correct. Rogers’ grandson was safe at college.
In the end, the caller wasn’t Rogers’ grandson at all. Of course, the second person who took the line was also not a lawyer. They were low-life con artists who had honed their art of preying on the elderly in what has come to be known as the “grandparent scam.”
Watch the video report below for more details:
Sources: AWM, jesusdaily, spotlightstories