The world isn’t short on terrible people who will attempt to take advantage of senior citizens. When a panicked older woman attempted to buy $2,000 worth of iTunes gift cards, Kroger cashier Shelly Yost knew something was wrong. The visibly upset woman told Yost the purchase was for her granddaughter who had been injured in jail and that the gift cards could be used to bail her out. Alarm bells immediately went off in Yost’s head.
She told the concerned grandmother it was a scam. “I want to let you know your granddaughter is OK. This is a scam that we know happens,” she said. The woman was so afraid for her granddaughter’s well being that she wouldn’t listen to Yost. “I asked her if she would please wait, and let me call the Sylvania police, so they could tell her that they would never accept gift cards as payment for somebody in jail. I didn’t want her to go somewhere else.”
Fortunately Yost was able to stall the terrified customer and notify police, who arrived quickly to help. After interviewing her, the police escorted the woman back to her assisted living facility. When her caretakers learned about what happened they came to visit Yost the following day. She described the experience to WTOL News, “The next day, they showed up, and they were the most genuine people. They hugged me so tight and thanked me over and over. And they handed me a card, which I took and said ‘Thank you’. When I opened it later, there was super-nice gift in there.”