Mobile police recently issued an alert about a crime that often flies under the radar: the “quick-change” or “change-raising” scam.
The scheme is designed to confuse a store clerk or bank teller into handing over too much change during a transaction. It typically takes a smooth talker to pull off.
“A lot of it is the gift of being able to talk, say the right things — ‘I’m absent-minded today, I’m so sorry, I made a mistake,'” said retired police officer Bruce Walstad, an expert on fraud and confidence games.
Much of the scam goes unreported, Walstad said, because the suspects usually walk away with only a few dollars at a time. If a clerk or manager notices the shortage, they may shrug it off, and if they suspect a con and call police, the scammer simply passes it off as a mistake.
But some cases add up to far more. Walstad said he has personally investigated instances where $150 to $180 was missing. Skilled scammers can hit multiple stores in a single day, and surveillance video posted by police departments around the country shows the thefts in action — including a convenience store where $220 was taken and a Walmart in Albuquerque where scammers got away with $2,100.