{"id":360995,"date":"2026-06-09T20:40:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/a-retail-manager-saw-one-red-flag-and-saved-an-elderly-customer-1000"},"modified":"2026-06-09T20:41:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:41:01","slug":"a-retail-manager-saw-one-red-flag-and-saved-an-elderly-customer-1000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/a-retail-manager-saw-one-red-flag-and-saved-an-elderly-customer-1000","title":{"rendered":"A Retail Supervisor Noticed One Purple Flag and Saved an Aged Buyer $1,000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>The man had already bought one $500 gift card when Theresa Harmon noticed the next warning sign.<\/p>\n<p>Harmon, a Dollar Tree manager in Clearwater, Florida, saw the elderly customer try to buy a second $500 card. The transaction failed. He walked out, came back minutes later, and held out his phone while someone remained on the line, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/clearwater-retail-store-manager-honored-police-gift-card-scam-senior-customer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FOX 13 Tampa Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Harmon refused to sell him another card. She persuaded him to hang up and refunded the first $500 purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Clearwater police later honored her with the department\u2019s Samaritan Award for stopping what officers described as a $1,000 gift card scam targeting an older customer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;overflow: hidden\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FFOX13TampaBay%2Fvideos%2F1421201443371182%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"650\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>The Customer Came Back With the Phone Still On<\/h2>\n<p>Harmon told FOX 13 that the first $500 gift card purchase went through. The second did not.<\/p>\n<p>When the man returned to the register, his phone was still beside him. Harmon could tell someone was on the call.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had his phone next to him,\u201d Harmon told FOX 13. \u201cYou could tell somebody was on the phone, and he asked for a specific card, and I don&#8217;t remember which card it was. And I didn&#8217;t have it, and I was like, \u2018Wait a minute, something&#8217;s wrong here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Caller Promised a New Truck<\/h2>\n<p>When Harmon questioned him, the customer said he was speaking with someone claiming to represent Publishers Clearing House.<\/p>\n<p>The caller had promised to deliver a brand-new truck if the man bought the gift cards, according to FOX 13.<\/p>\n<p>Harmon tried to slow him down at the register.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs nicely as I could, I said, \u2018Do you really think that you\u2019re going to get a brand-new car for $1,000 in gift cards?\u2019\u201d Harmon told FOX 13. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Well, I&#8217;m not going to give him anything unless I get it.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Sir, please, let&#8217;s don&#8217;t do this. Please, let me help you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Harmon Refused the Sale and Reversed the First Card<\/h2>\n<p>Harmon refused to sell the second gift card.<\/p>\n<p>She also convinced the customer to hang up and issued a complete refund for the first $500 card, FOX 13 reported.<\/p>\n<p>Clearwater police said the caller had not been identified and investigators had not confirmed where the call originated.<\/p>\n<p>No money was lost in the incident reported by FOX 13.<\/p>\n<h2>Police Honored Her for Stopping the Scam<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF;border: 0;border-radius: 3px;margin: 1px;max-width: 540px;min-width: 326px;padding: 0;width: calc(100% - 2px)\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZT7oNOkvH3\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px\">\n<div style=\"flex-direction: row;align-items: center\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 40px;margin-right: 14px;width: 40px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 100px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 60px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"height: 50px;margin: 0 auto 12px;width: 50px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;font-size: 14px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 550;line-height: 18px\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"flex-direction: row;margin-bottom: 14px;align-items: center\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px;flex-grow: 0;margin-right: 14px;margin-left: 2px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 20px;width: 20px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 2px solid transparent;border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom: 2px solid transparent\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto\">\n<div style=\"width: 0px;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right: 8px solid transparent\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;flex-grow: 0;height: 12px;width: 16px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left: 8px solid transparent\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center;margin-bottom: 24px\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 224px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 144px\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 17px;margin-bottom: 0;margin-top: 8px;overflow: hidden;padding: 8px 0 7px;text-align: center\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;font-size: 14px;font-style: normal;font-weight: normal;line-height: 17px;text-decoration: none\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZT7oNOkvH3\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by 10 Tampa Bay News (@10tampabay)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\nThe Clearwater Police Department recognized Harmon with its Samaritan Award after the intervention.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Dan Marscher told FOX 13 that local authorities handle elder-fraud cases like this often.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s very exciting to hear that a community member stepped in, completely unsolicited, to assist this individual,\u201d Marscher said. \u201cAnd we encourage that in a lot of these cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harmon said suspected scams come through her store nearly every day, but not every customer accepts help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first one that let me help them,\u201d Harmon told FOX 13. \u201cAnd I know in my heart that other ones are being scammed, but there&#8217;s nothing I can do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Gift Cards Were the Warning Sign<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/articles\/avoiding-and-reporting-gift-card-scams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FTC<\/a> says no real business or government agency will ever tell someone to buy a gift card to pay them.<\/p>\n<p>The FTC also warns that scammers may claim a person won a prize, then demand gift cards for fees or charges before the prize can be delivered.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate warning about <a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/consumer-alerts\/2023\/12\/hang-pch-impersonators\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Publishers Clearing House impersonators<\/a>, the FTC says people who get a call about a prize for a contest they never entered should hang up.<\/p>\n<p>Clearwater police urged bank tellers and retail workers to watch for customers who stay on the phone while buying high-value gift cards. FOX 13 reported that victims are often told to keep the call active while standing in store lines.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/wealthofgeeks.com\/a-retail-manager-saw-one-red-flag-and-saved-an-elderly-customer-1000\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The man had already bought one $500 gift card when Theresa Harmon noticed the next warning sign. Harmon, a Dollar Tree manager in Clearwater, Florida, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4557],"tags":[36148,36142,36144,2793,36149,3,36143,1658,36146,36147,36145],"class_list":["post-360995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-buyer","tag-clearwater","tag-clearwater-police","tag-fashion","tag-fashion-industry","tag-florida","tag-greenback-tree-supervisor","tag-retail","tag-retail-supervisor","tag-tampa-bay","tag-theresa-harmon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360997,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360995\/revisions\/360997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etrafficlane.com\/60dollarmiracle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}