BARTLETT, Tenn. — It was a normal Friday night for Baylee Ellis at TCBY in Bartlett until she and her co-worker got a strange phone call.
“Someone called and told me that I was being recorded,” said Ellis.
Ellis says the man on the phone also said the store was under investigation because employees were stealing.
“We were told they were a TCBY corporation, and we had to do what they said. They said they were gonna have an investigator come in and interview the manager and the boss of the store,” said Ellis. “I was very confused.”
Police say the caller told her co-worker to take $500.00 from the register and get a Visa gift card for that amount at the Walgreens on Stage Road.
“I thought Jason was going to another TCBY but he ended up going to Walgreens and making a wire transfer, which I didn’t find out until after he came back from the store,” said Ellis.
The crook told the employee to scratch off the back of the card, give him the code and throw it away.
He did just that.
“He was asking questions about the business, and they pretty much knew we did cash drops,” said Ellis. “They knew what we did for closing, so we just kind of thought it was real at that point.”
The next day, Ellis found out the whole thing was a scam.
“It bothers me a little bit because they’re targeting young children, people that are still in high school,” said Manager Lauren Johnson. “Karma will catch up to them.”
Lauren Johnson believes this is the first time the scammers have pulled this off at a TCBY. She says they’ve told all their employees if they get a call like this again, hang up and call a manger and police.
