Got scammed at work

I work as a teller at a bank. On Tuesday, a Hispanic woman, about 27 or so, came into the bank, and asked what our limits were for cash advances. I told her it was 5k. She said "perfect, thats exactly how much I need".

Before I go any further, let me describe this woman. She was semi-decent looking, and was dressed very professionally, and had a very outgoing attitude. Just a very friendly woman all-around. Basically, she is the type of customer you WANT to help, ya know?

Anyways, so she asked if we had a phone she could use, cuz she needed to call her credit card company to get authorization, cuz the 5k would put her over her credit limit. I took her credit card, and dialed the 800 number on the back of the card, and went about helping another customer. A few minutes later as I was helping yet another customer (it got fairly busy during this time), the woman hands me the phone, and said that the "credit card company woman" (KEEP THIS WOMAN IN MIND FOR LATER!!!) wanted to talk to me. So I took the phone, and basically the "credit card company woman" just verified the info on the card. The number, the expiration date, security code, etc. She then put me on hold for a few seconds, cuz she had to check with her supervisor, to make sure it was OK to up the womans credit card limits.

About 15 seconds later she comes back on the line with an authorization code, and that I'm supposed to go to our cash advance machine, and hit the OFFLINE button, and then scan the card, etc. After I entered all the info into the cash advance machine, it asked me for the authorization number, which I typed in. It came up as ACCEPTED. So I had the woman sign everything, blah blah, and I gave her the $5,000 she wanted.

Well, turns out that we got an e-mail at work yesterday about a woman going around the area, using fake credit cards to get cash advances. Right away I was like "You gotta be smurfing kidding me". I knew right away I got scammed.

So today at work, I called my boss, who then called the police, and we filed a police report. Turns out that as of this morning, the police were aware of 7 different banks/businesses with losses totaling more than $40,000. One bank lost $12,000 alone.

So we were watching the security video of when the woman was in the bank. Basically as soon as I turned my back on her, she hung the phone up, and dialed a different phone number (THE "CREDIT CARD COMPANY WOMAN"). She smurfin dialed her accomplice right behind my back, and I had no clue.

So needless to say, I was feeling pretty shitty all day, not knowing if I was going to be fired, or what was going to happen. My boss met with her bosses, and they all agreed that I followed procedure exactly, so I would not be disciplined. But still, it kinda sucks knowing that I'm responsible for a $5,000 loss for the bank, ya know?

Hindsight is always 20/20, and looking back on it, I guess it was suspicious how they wanted me to hit the OFFLINE button on the cash advance machine.

What a way to start off the weekend.

If it makes you feel any better I destroyed a $150,000.00 helicopter engine about 13 years ago. I didn't get fired.

It was an accident and I learned from it as well did others.

That being said I have always had an interest in the banking industry. It sounds like fun. Althogh I don't think I could do a suit and tie everyday.

Pics of said robber chick?

Yep, pics plz.

well that's a good one.
they damn sure knew what they were doing and the protocols involved for sure.

pics or it didn't happen...



shitty man, but you didn't do anything wrong

mmmmmmmmmmmm.... scamming mexican woman ........gigity gigity

It's alright man. I've screwed up way more than $5k worth of shit at my work.

At least you don't work for a casino. They are less understanding.

Quote: Originally Posted by sleelo58... I work as a teller at a bank. On Tuesday, a Hispanic woman, about 27 or so, came into the bank, and asked what our limits were for cash advances. I told her it was 5k. She said "perfect, thats exactly how much I need".

This should have sent up red flags.......If she said oh well I only need $3000............

Hmmmm.. best part is, she was probably an alien.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr. Black... If it makes you feel any better I destroyed a $150,000.00 helicopter engine about 13 years ago. I didn't get fired. It was an accident and I learned from it as well did others. That being said I have always had an interest in the banking industry. It sounds like fun. Althogh I don't think I could do a suit and tie everyday. Pics of said robber chick?

I'd love to hear the story.

Having worked in a bank branch previously, why did you run it offline? It has been a few years for me, but I think they told us never to take the machine offline.

Funny I previously worked at a bank, I got scammed by a big biker type dude. Strangly is I still remember his face, but anyways he came in and was exchanging $20's for larger bills (it happened all the time). He had claimed a total of 5k, and while I was counting it he wanted me to grab a bill counter (I hated them). When my back was turned (its the only time I can figure it happened) he must have snagged bills off the counter. When we counted tills at the end of the day I turned out exactly $1000 off. The only customer that it could have been was him, unless it was another teller... but I doubt that.

Long story short I was fired over the cash outage. The "investigation" was a joke and they said they pulled the tape but I think they didn't....

It ended up putting me in a better position with a different industry.

Sorry to hear you got taken, thats pretty crappy but it seems as they knew what they were doing and had it practiced...they were pro's.

Quote: Originally Posted by pinski... Having worked in a bank branch previously, why did you run it offline? It has been a few years for me, but I think they told us never to take the machine offline.

Yea, its been a little more than 3 years for me but wells fargo told us the same thing.

Quote: Originally Posted by Leavehard... Hmmmm.. best part is, she was probably an alien.

black bacon lettuce and tomato? sounds serious.

did you fill out a SAR? What more can you really do?

From what I've seen, a lot of people who go into a bank are trying to scam in 1 way or another. If they were legit, they would have direct deposit and a debit card.

Quote: Originally Posted by canttouchthis... This should have sent up red flags.......If she said oh well I only need $3000............

The "press the OFFLINE button" thing would have triggered it for me. If it's offline, doesn't that mean it can't validate the credit card's info.

Sorry to hear that OP. Really sucks how crooks take advantage of people like that.

Why the smurf would the machine work in OFFLINE mode? I'm not in the business so maybe there is a valid reason for it do that, but on the surface that makes 0 sense to me.

b/c someone on the phone tells you to do it-

People are very responsive to authority- we have been reduced to order-following zombies.

Quote: Originally Posted by BackRoadGTO... Sorry to hear that OP. Really sucks how crooks take advantage of people like that. Why the smurf would the machine work in OFFLINE mode? I'm not in the business so maybe there is a valid reason for it do that, but on the surface that makes 0 sense to me.

About the OFFLINE thing..... I've run hundreds of cash advances, no problem at all. This was the first (and last) time I will ever run one in OFFLINE mode. See, the thing that got me was that I HAD CALLED THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY myself. Little did I know that while my back was turned, she had hung up the phone, and dialed a different phone number. After she left, I actually asked my co-workers if they've ever run an OFFLINE cash advance before, and none of them had either. But they saw me on the phone with the "credit card company", so they figured it was legit as well.

I had absolutely NO idea that I wasn't talking to the credit card company. Like I said, hindsight is 20/20, and in a perfect world, I would have caught this woman. But turns out, she was most definitely a pro.

I've caught my fair share of fraudsters since I started at the bank. All of them have been amateurs, basically just opening an account with a stolen check, and then coming the next day to withdraw all the money. They make it very easy to figure out that they are in fact, scammers. But this woman had everything all planned out. She waited till I turned my back to hang up, and dial a different number. Then she waited till I got busy with customers, and handed me the phone so I could speak to the "credit card woman". She knew that my attention was diverted elsewhere (the customer). Definitely a pro.

When I spoke to the police at noon today, they said she has gotten over 40k from various banks/businesses, but I'm sure that number could easily climb up over 70k.

Thanks for everyones support. It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one that has ever screwed up on my job.

Especially the helicopter thing

Oh, and here is the picture of the scammer woman. It was on the local news, and in the newspaper, and all over the radio too.

Oh and 1 more thing.... This woman is apparently rolling around in a STOLEN Ford Fusion rental car. Nice eh? They're gonna catch this woman, and she's gonna be screwed.

She definitely didn't need the cash for dinner....

Slightly different story.....but there's panhandlers everyday on the interstate offramp in one of the cities I cover. This city is a suburb and an affluent one as well. One day a woman was standing in the rain...but had a nice raincoat and umbrella. Same damn story on all their cue cards too.....kids at home blah blah blah....

Quote: Originally Posted by ChrisMcGTO04... She definitely didn't need the cash for dinner.... Slightly different story.....but there's panhandlers everyday on the interstate offramp in one of the cities I cover. This city is a suburb and an affluent one as well. One day a woman was standing in the rain...but had a nice raincoat and umbrella. Same damn story on all their cue cards too.....kids at home blah blah blah....

Ha, yeah, shes definitely NOT THIN. The police report described her as 5'7, 170 lbs. She had a semi-decent looking face, but she definitely had a few extra pounds on her.

Quote: Originally Posted by sleelo58... Ha, yeah, shes definitely THIN. The police report described her as 5'7, 170 lbs. She had a semi-decent looking face, but she definitely had a few extra pounds on her.

Obvisously these inbreds don't have any rationale....

It always amazes me that these folks think they'll get away with this type of stuff....

Quote: Originally Posted by ChrisMcGTO04... Obvisously these inbreds don't have any rationale.... It always amazes me that these folks think they'll get away with this type of stuff....

Oops, I meant to say NOT thin haha. I will edit my previous post. Doh!!!

There was a woman around here that got busted for using the sob story about a house that was locked and she didn't have the keys, but needed to get to Boston. She got 3 businesses to give her money for a cab or something totaling a few hundred dollars

On a more serious note, there was a string of robberies south of Boston with the same MO...call in a bomb scare at a school, wait for the whole police force to go there, then hit a bank. Leave with stolen car and ditch it in another town.

5k? ehh you'll be fine.

a 1 hour meeting at work with 10-15 employees costs roughly 5k. that's small enough to be absorbed into the daily budget.

Quote: Originally Posted by ChrisMcGTO04... Obvisously these inbreds don't have any rationale.... It always amazes me that these folks think they'll get away with this type of stuff....

If this were the only bank she hit, then she would have gotten away no problem. Also she has yet to be caught, if she stops now, and ditches her supposed stolen fusion, then she has good odds. Also with a plan like this it would be best suited to go cross country and do. Make fake ID's for 10 states and hit 3-5 cities all different banks within 1-2 week time frame. No where near where you live and chances are you would get away with 100k for 2 weeks worth of work.

Nice way to spend a vacation from work, hmmmm.....