Renton Walmart employee Carrie Smith has talked people out of sending wire transfers for thousands of dollars that were potential scams. Photo: Jim Bates / The Seattle Times
Then there was the unemployed woman who sold her mother's silver online for $750. The buyer sent her a check for $1,100: Could she deposit the check and wire back the extra $350?
Again, Smith listened to the story, then to her gut.
"You don't want to do this," she said.
Smith, 68, is a one-woman fraud alert. From her perch behind the customer-service desk, she can sense the evil of the outside world sending good people to the MoneyGram machine, which is used to wire money throughout the country and beyond.
They come with stories of desperate calls for immediate cash. Strange "friends" saying their children are in jail. The "children" themselves call, saying they've been in an accident. Or they're bail bondsmen. Law enforcement. Some are cheery women offering "free" trips to Disney World.
"None of it sounds good," Smith told me.
Fake-check scams, in which people paid with phony checks are instructed to send money back, led the Top 10 Scams of 2008 put out by the National Consumer League. (Average losses per victim were more than $3,000.
"There are so many ways to convince people to send money," said Kristin Alexander, of the Washington State Attorney General's Office. "And once you send it, it's almost impossible to get the money back."
Unless, of course, Smith is running the MoneyGram machine, where one press of a button can take a life's savings.
"The scams happen all the time," she said. "And it's been getting worse because the economy is so bad and people are just getting desperate."
Smith couldn't say how much she's saved people over the 13 years she's worked at Walmart, but in one recent day alone, she stopped customers from losing $7,000.
When people come in, saying they need to wire money that had been sent to them by check, Smith advises them to wait for the stranger's check to clear.
"I say put it in there and wait awhile and make sure that's really your money," she said. "People will think the check clears right away, but it doesn't."
That's what happened with the woman who had sold the silver.
"The next day she came in and said 'You were right; that money was not there.' "
Sometimes Smith has to be more forceful than she'd like. An older couple came in, saying their son had called from Canada, in some kind of trouble. He needed $4,000.
"You sure that's your son's voice?" Smith asked the mother. "Then you take my phone and call him. Don't do anything until you talk to your son."
They called their son. He was fine — not in Canada — and had plenty of cash.
Smith understands the panic and worry that drive people to drain their bank accounts and send cash into the ether.
"If you had a child, and somebody called you right now and told you that something happened to your child... ," Smith said. "You're so distraught. You're losing your cool."
But scammers have ways to find out children's names, where they work.
"And they are so convincing!"
The store's assistant manager, Michael Beckley, said employees are trained to recognized scams. But Smith seems to have an inner compass for right and wrong.
"She has a genuine concern for people," he said. "She connects with pretty much everybody. And it really bothers her that people try to take advantage of people, especially the elderly."
Smith has made such an impact that people have delivered cards, flowers and endless thanks. One person Smith saved from a scam wrote into this newspaper's "Rant and Rave" column last month:
"Rave: To Carrie in the service department at Wal-Mart who convinced me that the $3,300 I was trying to send to Canada was for a scam. She's my angel."
Smith shrugs off the praise. The widow and mother of four attends Paradise Baptist Church in Seattle, and says that when she gets up in the morning, "I say whatever happens, I need to say a kind word.
"I try to save anybody I can because we work hard for our money and we don't need to send our money to scammers," she said. "I have a good gut that doesn't want anything bad to happen."
And it won't, as long as Carrie Smith's behind the counter. [rc]
Nicole Brodeur
nbrodeur@seattletimes.com
She knows no one in Nigeria.
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
September 4, 2009
USA: This guardian angel flies by her gut
.
SEATTLE, Washington / The Seattle Times / Living / September 4, 2009
Carrie Smith, 68, is a one-woman fraud alert. From her perch behind the customer-service desk, she can sense the evil of the outside world sending good people to the MoneyGram machine, which is used to wire money throughout the country and beyond.
By Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times staff columnist
The elderly woman was in a wheelchair, so she struggled to pass the envelope over the counter.
Carrie Smith opened it to find $4,000 in cash. The woman had taken the money from her savings to send to someone who had called, saying her daughter was in trouble and needed money — fast.
"You don't want to do this," Smith told the woman, who had taken the bus to the Walmart in Renton to wire the money off.
Renton Walmart employee Carrie Smith has talked people out of sending wire transfers for thousands of dollars that were potential scams. Photo: Jim Bates / The Seattle Times
Then there was the unemployed woman who sold her mother's silver online for $750. The buyer sent her a check for $1,100: Could she deposit the check and wire back the extra $350?
Again, Smith listened to the story, then to her gut.
"You don't want to do this," she said.
Smith, 68, is a one-woman fraud alert. From her perch behind the customer-service desk, she can sense the evil of the outside world sending good people to the MoneyGram machine, which is used to wire money throughout the country and beyond.
They come with stories of desperate calls for immediate cash. Strange "friends" saying their children are in jail. The "children" themselves call, saying they've been in an accident. Or they're bail bondsmen. Law enforcement. Some are cheery women offering "free" trips to Disney World.
"None of it sounds good," Smith told me.
Fake-check scams, in which people paid with phony checks are instructed to send money back, led the Top 10 Scams of 2008 put out by the National Consumer League. (Average losses per victim were more than $3,000.
"There are so many ways to convince people to send money," said Kristin Alexander, of the Washington State Attorney General's Office. "And once you send it, it's almost impossible to get the money back."
Unless, of course, Smith is running the MoneyGram machine, where one press of a button can take a life's savings.
"The scams happen all the time," she said. "And it's been getting worse because the economy is so bad and people are just getting desperate."
Smith couldn't say how much she's saved people over the 13 years she's worked at Walmart, but in one recent day alone, she stopped customers from losing $7,000.
When people come in, saying they need to wire money that had been sent to them by check, Smith advises them to wait for the stranger's check to clear.
"I say put it in there and wait awhile and make sure that's really your money," she said. "People will think the check clears right away, but it doesn't."
That's what happened with the woman who had sold the silver.
"The next day she came in and said 'You were right; that money was not there.' "
Sometimes Smith has to be more forceful than she'd like. An older couple came in, saying their son had called from Canada, in some kind of trouble. He needed $4,000.
"You sure that's your son's voice?" Smith asked the mother. "Then you take my phone and call him. Don't do anything until you talk to your son."
They called their son. He was fine — not in Canada — and had plenty of cash.
Smith understands the panic and worry that drive people to drain their bank accounts and send cash into the ether.
"If you had a child, and somebody called you right now and told you that something happened to your child... ," Smith said. "You're so distraught. You're losing your cool."
But scammers have ways to find out children's names, where they work.
"And they are so convincing!"
The store's assistant manager, Michael Beckley, said employees are trained to recognized scams. But Smith seems to have an inner compass for right and wrong.
"She has a genuine concern for people," he said. "She connects with pretty much everybody. And it really bothers her that people try to take advantage of people, especially the elderly."
Smith has made such an impact that people have delivered cards, flowers and endless thanks. One person Smith saved from a scam wrote into this newspaper's "Rant and Rave" column last month:
"Rave: To Carrie in the service department at Wal-Mart who convinced me that the $3,300 I was trying to send to Canada was for a scam. She's my angel."
Smith shrugs off the praise. The widow and mother of four attends Paradise Baptist Church in Seattle, and says that when she gets up in the morning, "I say whatever happens, I need to say a kind word.
"I try to save anybody I can because we work hard for our money and we don't need to send our money to scammers," she said. "I have a good gut that doesn't want anything bad to happen."
And it won't, as long as Carrie Smith's behind the counter. [rc]
Nicole Brodeur
nbrodeur@seattletimes.com
She knows no one in Nigeria.
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
Renton Walmart employee Carrie Smith has talked people out of sending wire transfers for thousands of dollars that were potential scams. Photo: Jim Bates / The Seattle Times
Then there was the unemployed woman who sold her mother's silver online for $750. The buyer sent her a check for $1,100: Could she deposit the check and wire back the extra $350?
Again, Smith listened to the story, then to her gut.
"You don't want to do this," she said.
Smith, 68, is a one-woman fraud alert. From her perch behind the customer-service desk, she can sense the evil of the outside world sending good people to the MoneyGram machine, which is used to wire money throughout the country and beyond.
They come with stories of desperate calls for immediate cash. Strange "friends" saying their children are in jail. The "children" themselves call, saying they've been in an accident. Or they're bail bondsmen. Law enforcement. Some are cheery women offering "free" trips to Disney World.
"None of it sounds good," Smith told me.
Fake-check scams, in which people paid with phony checks are instructed to send money back, led the Top 10 Scams of 2008 put out by the National Consumer League. (Average losses per victim were more than $3,000.
"There are so many ways to convince people to send money," said Kristin Alexander, of the Washington State Attorney General's Office. "And once you send it, it's almost impossible to get the money back."
Unless, of course, Smith is running the MoneyGram machine, where one press of a button can take a life's savings.
"The scams happen all the time," she said. "And it's been getting worse because the economy is so bad and people are just getting desperate."
Smith couldn't say how much she's saved people over the 13 years she's worked at Walmart, but in one recent day alone, she stopped customers from losing $7,000.
When people come in, saying they need to wire money that had been sent to them by check, Smith advises them to wait for the stranger's check to clear.
"I say put it in there and wait awhile and make sure that's really your money," she said. "People will think the check clears right away, but it doesn't."
That's what happened with the woman who had sold the silver.
"The next day she came in and said 'You were right; that money was not there.' "
Sometimes Smith has to be more forceful than she'd like. An older couple came in, saying their son had called from Canada, in some kind of trouble. He needed $4,000.
"You sure that's your son's voice?" Smith asked the mother. "Then you take my phone and call him. Don't do anything until you talk to your son."
They called their son. He was fine — not in Canada — and had plenty of cash.
Smith understands the panic and worry that drive people to drain their bank accounts and send cash into the ether.
"If you had a child, and somebody called you right now and told you that something happened to your child... ," Smith said. "You're so distraught. You're losing your cool."
But scammers have ways to find out children's names, where they work.
"And they are so convincing!"
The store's assistant manager, Michael Beckley, said employees are trained to recognized scams. But Smith seems to have an inner compass for right and wrong.
"She has a genuine concern for people," he said. "She connects with pretty much everybody. And it really bothers her that people try to take advantage of people, especially the elderly."
Smith has made such an impact that people have delivered cards, flowers and endless thanks. One person Smith saved from a scam wrote into this newspaper's "Rant and Rave" column last month:
"Rave: To Carrie in the service department at Wal-Mart who convinced me that the $3,300 I was trying to send to Canada was for a scam. She's my angel."
Smith shrugs off the praise. The widow and mother of four attends Paradise Baptist Church in Seattle, and says that when she gets up in the morning, "I say whatever happens, I need to say a kind word.
"I try to save anybody I can because we work hard for our money and we don't need to send our money to scammers," she said. "I have a good gut that doesn't want anything bad to happen."
And it won't, as long as Carrie Smith's behind the counter. [rc]
Nicole Brodeur
nbrodeur@seattletimes.com
She knows no one in Nigeria.
Copyright © The Seattle Times Company
