Buying jewelry from questionable dealers or changing large bills into smaller denominations can lead to substantial cash losses, warn police.
Staff Sgt. Scott West points out that RCMP have noticed a couple of scams in Salmon Arm and around the Shuswap recently.
One is the ‘fake jewelry’ scam, where thieves have been selling phoney jewelry in iffy ways such as from parking lots and the trunks of vehicles.
West urges residents to buy jewelry only from a reputable dealer and to live by the rule that if a deal seems too good to be true, then it is.
The other scam he warns of is sleight of hand at the cash register.
This scam involves a customer asking to exchange large bills for smaller denominations.
“Through some very well-orchestrated sleight of hand and confusion at the cash register that the culprits will create, either by themselves or with the help of an accomplice, cashiers may find themselves light when they reconcile the end-of-the-day receipts,” West said.
The thief may also ask to change the large bill back and then keep some of the smaller bills.
“Merely tell the person to go to a bank to have their large bill broken down into smaller denominations,” he advises.
Read more: Sicamous man duped in fake gold jewelry scam
Read more: Vernon businesses warned of con artists using deceptive fraud tactics
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