Recently an Idaho woman was saved from losing $3,000 on a phone scam while at a checkout line thanks to an employee with the Idaho Office of the Attorney General.

On January 9, a consumer specialist, Lee Post, was in line at a grocery store checkout in Boise just behind a woman who had been trying to load the money onto gift cards while on the phone with someone, according to the Attorney General's office.

The specialist quickly recognized the woman was being scammed and interjected, “I jumped in and said ‘This is a scam, ma’am,’” Post said in a prepared statement. “I asked her if she had someone on the phone telling her to do this.”

The woman told Post she was being told to load the cards with money which prompted Post to asked to speak with the person on the phone and told them she knew it was a scam and told them never to call the number again. Post worked in the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division and knew the red flags concerning scams.

“I want to commend Lee for stepping in and shutting down this scam,” said Consumer Protection Division Chief Brett DeLange in a prepared statement. “Thanks to her quick work, a woman was prevented from being swindled out of $3,000.”

Lee Post, courtesy Idaho Attorney General
Lee Post, courtesy Idaho Attorney General
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According to the Idaho Attorney General, some of the key signs of a scam include:
-A call from a number you don’t recognize;
-A threat of arrest from the caller or some other false scenario meant to create a sense of fear or urgency;
-Recorded messaging that is used by scammers to mask accents or broken English; and
-Any requests to send payment via gift cards, iTunes cards, or prepaid cards from companies like Visa, Mastercard or green dot.

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