ROCKBRIDGE CO., Va. – A Rockbridge County woman was just moments away from losing a thousand dollars in a jury duty scam — but an alert clerk helped keep that from happening.
And the sheriff tells us she’s not the only potential victim. Dollar stores are intended to save you some money, and Paula Martin is thankful she chose the right one.
“I said, look, you just saved me $1,000,” Martin said.
She went to a store in Lexington after she says a man claiming to be a police officer told her she was in trouble for missing jury duty. But if she bought two $500 gift cards and dropped them off at the police station, she said the man told her all would be forgiven and she would get her money back.
“And I thought, this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Martin said. “But then there are dumb things going on in the world.”
Martin says she was still on the phone with the man when she got to the Dollar General and told the clerk what she needed to buy. The clerk advised her to mute the call and shared what had happened to another woman who was asked to do the same thing.
“I unmuted him and said, ‘I was just told that another lady came in to get a $500 gift certificate, was told she would be reimbursed, and never was,’” Martin said. “And the phone went. And he was gone. And I felt suddenly like I had woken up from a bad dream. It was shocking.”
Rockbridge County and City of Lexington Sheriff Tony McFaddin says this type of scam is becoming all too common. But he says the clerk’s quick actions show their message about being on the lookout for scams is getting through.
“We hope that before people fall victim to this, they do talk to somebody else,” McFaddin said. “They do get a second opinion — ‘Do you think this is real? Do you think this is a scam?’ Because 99 out of 100 times, it usually is. So she was very lucky that she found the right person that talked her out of meeting their demands.”
Martin later returned to the store to thank the clerk. As for the would-be scammer, Martin said she feels a mix of disbelief and sympathy.
“I don’t know why he would do that,” she said. “I feel sorry for him. I feel sorry that he has to do something that takes advantage of other people and is inappropriate.”