Sofia Sanchez
Thu, January 12, 2023 at 1:17 PM EST
A 13-year-old boy stormed the Publix customer service counter on Robert Smalls Parkway Tuesday for an emergency, but it wasn’t the life-or-death kind.
“We were at the right place, right time,” said Lisa Taylor, a Beaufort mother of four including son Renner Taylor, who stopped an elderly man from buying gift cards at the store for scammers.
The two, along with Taylor’s 3-year-old daughter, were at Publix when Renner overheard an elderly man on a speaker phone while in the bathroom.
Just two weeks before, Taylor said, the family had binge-watched YouTube videos from an account called Scammer Payback, a channel with millions of subscribers that attempts to play scammers at their own game “with humor and fun.”
As he listened to the conversation, Renner immediately recognized the signs of typical elder scams posted on the channel. When the man asked, “I’m supposed to go to the gift card section now?” the boy knew he had to step in.
“I’m not letting this happen to this old man,” said 13-year-old Renner Taylor to his mother after the two had stopped an elderly man at a Beaufort Publix from buying gift cards for scammers Tuesday. “We did a good thing, but we need to remember that old man is at home hurting right now.”
When asked Thursday why it was so important for him to stop what was apparently happening, Renner told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, “You wouldn’t sit there and watch a robber take a lady’s purse.”
“We weren’t going to let it go,” he said.
When Renner told his mother what was happening, the two stationed themselves at the supermarket’s gift card section, waiting to intercept the elderly victim. When he headed their way, his phone still attached to his ear, Taylor “grabbed his arm” and told him he was being scammed.
“You see it on TV and you never think you’ll be affected,” Taylor said. “I was shaking, teeth chattering and my son was sweating.”
The man didn’t believe them at first and showed them a photo Taylor said the scammer had edited to make it look like they had accidentally deposited thousands of dollars into his account that he needed to pay back. As Taylor tried to calm him down, Renner ran straight for the customer service section of the store, toting his 3-year-old sister in a shopping cart along with him, and demanded to see a manager.
“The man looked a wreck,” Taylor said of the victim. “He was afraid because of what he was going through.”
Gift card scams are becoming more common, police say.
“We could not believe what we saw on YouTube two weeks ago was happening in our small town,” Taylor added.
A manager at Publix told Taylor they couldn’t do much more other than refuse to sell the gift cards to the man. The managers, she said, told her that the company trains its cashiers to spot the signs of a scam and can decline to sell a gift card if they think the customer is being targeted.
Taylor said her son was adamant that he was going to help the elderly man. When they got home and the “adrenaline rush” had passed, her son told her, “We did a good thing.’”
A manager at the Publix store declined a request for comment from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. A spokesperson from Publix corporate could not immediately be reached for comment.
‘It’s a prideful Issue’
The elderly man, who was not identified, told Beaufort Police officers he did not want their help, which is not uncommon, according to Lt. Charles Raley, a spokesperson for the department.
“It’s a prideful issue for elderly people,” Raley said. “They don’t want to admit they’ve been taken advantage of.”
Gift card and other scams don’t just target the elderly, Raley said. Recently, the department handled a case in which a teenager working in downtown Beaufort had been tricked into buying gift cards and giving the serial codes to someone over the phone. Police were able to tie the incident to a person incarcerated in Alabama who was running a scam ring from behind bars.
“Unfortunately, in the world we live in today, it’s never-ending with cybercrime,” Raley said. “It’s a rare instance when we are able to track something back, and that’s only if we get the victim to show us the gift card.”
Raley’s said people who believe they have been victims of scammers should call police right away and keep all receipts and/or gift cards so that police have as much information as possible to begin investigating.
Anyone who thinks they have been the victim of a scam or fraud may call their local police department or submit a tip to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at: https://www.ic3.gov/.
When asked Thursday why it was so important to him to stop an old man from being scammed, 13-year-old Renner Taylor told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, “you wouldn’t sit there and watch a robber take a lady’s purse.”
ca.yahoo.com
Thu, January 12, 2023 at 1:17 PM EST
A 13-year-old boy stormed the Publix customer service counter on Robert Smalls Parkway Tuesday for an emergency, but it wasn’t the life-or-death kind.
“We were at the right place, right time,” said Lisa Taylor, a Beaufort mother of four including son Renner Taylor, who stopped an elderly man from buying gift cards at the store for scammers.
The two, along with Taylor’s 3-year-old daughter, were at Publix when Renner overheard an elderly man on a speaker phone while in the bathroom.
Just two weeks before, Taylor said, the family had binge-watched YouTube videos from an account called Scammer Payback, a channel with millions of subscribers that attempts to play scammers at their own game “with humor and fun.”
As he listened to the conversation, Renner immediately recognized the signs of typical elder scams posted on the channel. When the man asked, “I’m supposed to go to the gift card section now?” the boy knew he had to step in.
“I’m not letting this happen to this old man,” said 13-year-old Renner Taylor to his mother after the two had stopped an elderly man at a Beaufort Publix from buying gift cards for scammers Tuesday. “We did a good thing, but we need to remember that old man is at home hurting right now.”
When asked Thursday why it was so important for him to stop what was apparently happening, Renner told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, “You wouldn’t sit there and watch a robber take a lady’s purse.”
“We weren’t going to let it go,” he said.
When Renner told his mother what was happening, the two stationed themselves at the supermarket’s gift card section, waiting to intercept the elderly victim. When he headed their way, his phone still attached to his ear, Taylor “grabbed his arm” and told him he was being scammed.
“You see it on TV and you never think you’ll be affected,” Taylor said. “I was shaking, teeth chattering and my son was sweating.”
The man didn’t believe them at first and showed them a photo Taylor said the scammer had edited to make it look like they had accidentally deposited thousands of dollars into his account that he needed to pay back. As Taylor tried to calm him down, Renner ran straight for the customer service section of the store, toting his 3-year-old sister in a shopping cart along with him, and demanded to see a manager.
“The man looked a wreck,” Taylor said of the victim. “He was afraid because of what he was going through.”
Gift card scams are becoming more common, police say.
“We could not believe what we saw on YouTube two weeks ago was happening in our small town,” Taylor added.
A manager at Publix told Taylor they couldn’t do much more other than refuse to sell the gift cards to the man. The managers, she said, told her that the company trains its cashiers to spot the signs of a scam and can decline to sell a gift card if they think the customer is being targeted.
Taylor said her son was adamant that he was going to help the elderly man. When they got home and the “adrenaline rush” had passed, her son told her, “We did a good thing.’”
A manager at the Publix store declined a request for comment from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. A spokesperson from Publix corporate could not immediately be reached for comment.
‘It’s a prideful Issue’
The elderly man, who was not identified, told Beaufort Police officers he did not want their help, which is not uncommon, according to Lt. Charles Raley, a spokesperson for the department.
“It’s a prideful issue for elderly people,” Raley said. “They don’t want to admit they’ve been taken advantage of.”
Gift card and other scams don’t just target the elderly, Raley said. Recently, the department handled a case in which a teenager working in downtown Beaufort had been tricked into buying gift cards and giving the serial codes to someone over the phone. Police were able to tie the incident to a person incarcerated in Alabama who was running a scam ring from behind bars.
“Unfortunately, in the world we live in today, it’s never-ending with cybercrime,” Raley said. “It’s a rare instance when we are able to track something back, and that’s only if we get the victim to show us the gift card.”
Raley’s said people who believe they have been victims of scammers should call police right away and keep all receipts and/or gift cards so that police have as much information as possible to begin investigating.
Anyone who thinks they have been the victim of a scam or fraud may call their local police department or submit a tip to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at: https://www.ic3.gov/.
When asked Thursday why it was so important to him to stop an old man from being scammed, 13-year-old Renner Taylor told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, “you wouldn’t sit there and watch a robber take a lady’s purse.”
Beaufort boy and mom help save elderly man from gift card scam. ‘Right place, right time’
When asked why it was so important to him to stop what was happening, 13-year-old Renner Taylor said, “You wouldn’t sit there and watch a robber take a lady’s purse.”
