Don’t Get Hung Up on Phone Scammers — Hang up

In a recent test about thwarting phone scammers, associates passed with flying colors.

Exchange associates did the right thing when faced with a phone scammer — they hung up.

Local LP managers recently asked 2,460 managers, supervisors and associates at 440 Exchange facilities in CONUS what they would do if a caller asked them to put money on a point-of-sale gift card and provide the card numbers. All gave the right answer: they would immediately hang up and tell Loss Prevention and their general manager.

“Never engage in conversation with the scammers because they’re wily characters,” said Steve Boyd, an LP senior field operations manager. “The more engaging the conversation, the more likely the associate will fall for the scam. The scammers are very good at what they do. We must be better at what we do.”

Recent thefts

The survey comes after scammers during the past year tried to or succeeded in cunning CONUS Exchanges out of thousands of dollars, including  $3,000 at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. The scammers call and use names of Exchange managers to lure unsuspecting associates into loading money onto cards.

The Warren thief used the name of Exchange Chief Operating Officer “David” Nelson, who, in real life, goes by Dave.”

Associates should never take financial transactions over the phone. All transactions must have a customer present at a cash register, with payment.

Keeping fraudsters visible

The real-life Dave Nelson was quite happy with the results.

“This is really good news given the many fraudulent purchases we have had,” he said. “I thank the LP team and operators for your focus. Let’s continue to keep what to do about fraudulent calls visible with our front-line associates.

“Managers at all levels of the stores should be focused on the program too.”