Store Employee Prevents Woman From Phone Scam

By Cheril Vernon

Messenger Copy Editor

GRAPELAND-  Telephone scams have become increasingly prevalent these days, targeting unsuspecting individuals with the goal of stealing their money or personal information. These scams often target the elderly population in our communities, though any age can be a target.

A little more than a week ago, a Brookshire Brothers Express employee stopped this from happening to one local woman.

After the stressful ordeal, the woman called The Messenger to report how she is probably one of many who are being targeted by phone scams – and hoped sharing her story would help someone else not be scammed.

The call started out with a caller saying one of her accounts had been compromised – and after taking her through a few steps on her home computer – told her to stay on the phone and go to a local store, so that she could get it fixed by buying an Ebay® card.

When she made it to Brookshire Brothers Express in Grapeland, she was upset and confused. 

“She walked up to the counter and she was very distraught, almost crying. I  c ould   see   she  was 

extremely upset,” said Brookshire Brothers Express Assistant Store Manager Jeanne Malone. “The moment she went to the Ebay® cards, I knew something wasn’t right. I did ask her if I could speak to the person on the other side of the phone. She said ‘please, because I don’t know what’s going on.’

Malone asked for the caller’s name, the company he worked for, his employee ID number and the reason behind the purchase of the card. The man asked to speak to the customer again.

“She was like ‘I am really confused, can you speak to him for me.’ I told him I could not authorize this sale of the Ebay® cards unless I knew the reason behind it.”

The scammer ended up hanging up on Malone, who handed the cell phone back to the customer. The phone started ringing again – and once again – the lady asked if Malone would talk to him – as it was the same person.

“I gave him my name, my title and who I work for, and again told him until he could give me a logical answer on why she needed to purchase these cards, I would not authorize the sale. He hung up,” Malone said.

When the phone scammer hung up, Malone instructed the woman to immediately call or go to her bank.

“She drove over there. She was extremely distraught because he had already do things on her computer and she was really scared,” Malone said.

The woman then proceeded to close her bank account out of caution.

Prior to leaving the store, Malone asked the lady for her phone so she could block the scammer’s number.

“She was very willing to give me the phone. She hugged me really tightly afterwards and told me thank you. She was definitely being scammed. I told her, if she had anymore issues, any more people calling her, to just hang up the phone and not answer or engage with them. I told her if there was anything else she needed help with, she could definitely come back to the store,” Malone said.

Malone said her training at Brookshire Brothers has helped her learn how to recognize situations such as this. 

“We do a lot of training on the computer, and of course, my store director is always here helping with things. I’ve been in customer service for a long time,” Malone said.

In fact, Malone said her dad had a similar experience happen to him so she is aware of the danger of phone scammers..

“They did my dad the same way. He was upset in what they were telling him, and I try to recognize that. She’s not the first person that came in and I’ve had to handle that situation. There was another lady who came in, who was crying and upset as well, and I did the same with her.”

Malone said the key thing to recognize is the customer’s body language.

“One of the things we should be definitely be aware of is the confusion. She was pretty distraught. You can tell by a person’s body language. And the fact that she did state that she was confused,” Malone said.

She explained that Ebay® cards and Google Pay® cards are not cards that are highly purchased in the store, so that is definitely a red flag. 

“Mainly, the demeanor of the customer, we need to pay attention look for body language,” Malone said.Through working in customer service for Brookshire Brothers and trained for scams to watch for through the company, they know what to be aware of and the questions to ask.

“I’m privleged she came to Brookshire Brothers instead of another store and that she trusted me enough to help her. I’m going to cry thinking about it, because it broke my heart to see her that upset, it really did,” Malone said.

In January, Malone will have worked for Brookshire Brothers in Grapeland for three years.

“It’s great working here. I’m not a local as far as Grapeland, born and raised in Elkhart. Coming here, the community has definitely embraced me and I just want to embrace back and be a posiitive influence not only for my co-workers but for our community as well,” Malone added.

Melissa Crager, Public Relations & Corporate Responsibility Manager for Brookshire Brothers, said she commends Malone for recognizing the warning signs.

“You can really tell that Jeanne really cares about people and her community and that’s what Brookshire Brothers is all about – we are so much more than a grocery store. We really hold that title of community grocer close to our hearts, and so this is just one more way we take care of our community by looking out for their well-being,” Craiger said. “We are really proud of Jeanne and what she did. And so glad that sweet lady came into her store, so she was able to help her.”