Farina Police Chief Vernon Rose says they were able to stop a scam before any money was lost on Wednesday.
The victim was a new employee at Jack Flash in Farina working by herself overnight when she received a call from a supposed co-worker who said he had made a mistake and wrote a check for the business that would not clear.
He asked the employee to gather all the dollars they had at the store and deposit it in a crypto-cash machine at the Mt. Vernon Huck’s Store.
Rose says before leaving her shift she emptied the safe, broke into some instant lottery ticket machines and took the money from all but one of the cash registers.
Day employees realized quickly the money had been taken and initially thought the alleged victim had stolen the money. However, as the investigation continued they determined the alleged victim was on her way to Mt. Vernon. She apparently had been ordered to stay on the phone by the scammers and would not respond to text messages. However, she eventually did talk to her husband who told her what was happening and she returned to the Jack Flash store with the $1,874 she had taken.
Rose says the store management apologized to the employee for what she had been through and told her she still had a job following the ordeal.
