iFraud

(I’m working the customer service desk at my store when a young, tearful boy approaches the desk with his mother.)

Boy: “Hello, I wanted to see if you could help me. I think I dropped my iPod somewhere in the store, and I can’t find it. Is it in the lost-and-found?”

(I check out our safe and find nothing. The child’s mother tells me the model of the iPod, and the color. It’s a slightly older model, by a year, that we no longer even sell.)

Mother: “It also has his name engraved on the back, so it’s hard to miss.”

Me: “Okay, I’ve made a note on that. Can I have your phone number? If it shows up, we’ll call you to come pick it up. I’m really sorry about that.”

(The mother gives me her number, the boy thanks me, and they take off. Not ten minutes later, two teenage girls approach me.)

Girl #1: “Yeah, we want to return this iPod but we don’t have a box or receipt for it.”

Girl #2: “Yeah, it was, like, a gift.”

(They slide an older, slightly battered iPod across the counter, matching the color of the one reported lost.)

Me: “How long ago did you purchase this?”

Girl #1: “We bought it here, like, a week ago. We want a refund.

(I turn it over to reveal the boy’s name engraved on the back.)

Me: “Nice try. Get out.”