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(WDW News Today)   Gas station employee out of a job after following instructions from a stranger on the phone at 3 AM telling them to put all the cash into the bitcoin ATM in the corner that no one ever used   (wdwnt.com) divider line
86
    More: Florida, Police, Sheriff, Deputy sheriff, Constable, Tirbhawan Premchand, overnight employee, store employee, Erick  
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3733 clicks; posted to Main » on 25 Jan 2023 at 9:56 AM (7 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



86 Comments     (+0 »)
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Confabulat [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 9:45:23 AM  
Well first off, the bitcoin ATM was clearly on the other side of town or maybe in Tampa because he was gone for a long time. Orlando traffic can be a biatch but not so much between 3 and 5 AM.

And did he go back to the store after the morning shift arrived? Cause that would have been pretty embarrassing. I think I'd just call that particular career a bust.

At least the caller didn't make him take his clothes off.
 
vudukungfu [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 9:46:42 AM  
Coincidentally, as Erick leaves, an Orange County Deputy Sheriff walks into the unattended store.

Horsehockey
 
spongeboob [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 9:58:27 AM  

Confabulat: Well first off, the bitcoin ATM was clearly on the other side of town or maybe in Tampa because he was gone for a long time. Orlando traffic can be a biatch but not so much between 3 and 5 AM.

And did he go back to the store after the morning shift arrived? Cause that would have been pretty embarrassing. I think I'd just call that particular career a bust.

At least the caller didn't make him take his clothes off.


No didn't make him have a teen girl take off her clothes
 
Geoff Peterson [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:00:59 AM  
Ive seen those things...they sell you $20 of bitcoin for $25. BRILLIANT.
 
Conservative Evangelical Millennial Cyclist
2023-01-25 10:03:35 AM  
Reminds me of "[redacted] shocking school" from back when.
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:04:12 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
wage0048
2023-01-25 10:09:23 AM  
Good.

Either the employee was too stupid to be allowed to keep their job or they were in on the theft.

Either way, they need to be fired.
 
thealgorerhythm
2023-01-25 10:10:54 AM  
I wish I was the unscrupulous bastard who invented BTC ATMs

None of this hype based pump and dump of digital transactions that have to be turned back into real wealth.

Just harvest sweet sweet cash from suckers.
 
TofuTheAlmighty [BareFark]
2023-01-25 10:11:53 AM  

vudukungfu: Coincidentally, as Erick leaves, an Orange County Deputy Sheriff walks into the unattended store.

Horsehockey


Yeeeeeah, that cop was probably the mastermind of the job.

Coincidentally, as Erick leaves, an Orange County Deputy Sheriff walks into the unattended store. According to the Deputy's call log, he remained on a check at the store from 3:58 A.M. to 5:30 A.M.
 
dletter
2023-01-25 10:13:28 AM  

Geoff Peterson: Ive seen those things...they sell you $20 of bitcoin for $25. BRILLIANT.


That's your money laundering fee, duh.
 
Sexy Jesus [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:14:46 AM  
So the caller explained to Eric with a K how to open the safe? How many people can possibly know that? The owner cites the fact that scammers research company org charts online to help sell the scam in his attempt to put this on mysterious scammers in the night but goes right around how they knew how to access the safe. Somebody knew there was cash and a newbie in the store, knew how to access the safe.  The number of people that an Indian convenience store owner shares his safe combo with is not a non-zero number. My money is on the owner cited in article or maybe a prodigal son.
 
Rapmaster2000 [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:15:08 AM  
That's surprising.  I've never seen a Bitcoin ATM that actually works.  They're always covered with dust next to the Kratom and the bongs.
 
HotWingConspiracy
2023-01-25 10:17:58 AM  

Rapmaster2000: That's surprising.  I've never seen a Bitcoin ATM that actually works.  They're always covered with dust next to the Kratom and the bongs.


Those stores get decent foot traffic by offering free Mumia.
 
Munden [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-25 10:22:10 AM  

wage0048: Good.

Either the employee was too stupid to be allowed to keep their job or they were in on the theft.

Either way, they need to be fired.


Meh.  That $2k is gone.  It's not coming back with a new employee.  That employee just learned a lesson they likely won't make again.  The employeer should invest in employee training to help them identify the telltale signs of scams, chief among them is the sense of urgency the scammers always employ.
 
brigid_fitch
2023-01-25 10:23:47 AM  
FTFA:  "Then the voice on the phone wanted money. Again, this was an emergency for the Speedway company, the voice insisted."
(couple of pics posted in article)
"Erick first attempted to use his own Partners Federal Union credit card to pay towards the Mexican bank account."

Looks like a sentence or two are missing.  How did we go from "emergency for the Speedway company" to "paying towards Mexican bank account"?
 
Some Junkie Cosmonaut
2023-01-25 10:25:23 AM  

Sexy Jesus: So the caller explained to Eric with a K how to open the safe? How many people can possibly know that? The owner cites the fact that scammers research company org charts online to help sell the scam in his attempt to put this on mysterious scammers in the night but goes right around how they knew how to access the safe. Somebody knew there was cash and a newbie in the store, knew how to access the safe.  The number of people that an Indian convenience store owner shares his safe combo with is not a non-zero number. My money is on the owner cited in article or maybe a prodigal son.


Any convenience store owner is going to threaten themselves with death if they reveal the combination - but many people aren't very good at realizing who's potentially around and scoping them while they do so.  A conveniently "forgot to grab it" phone placed where it's recording video for a while is plenty, and most people don't think much of seeing a phone lying on a table or something.  Could quite easily be an elementary level clever ex-employee or associate that had occasional reason to be in the room with the safe
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:29:35 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Sexy Jesus [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:31:59 AM  

Some Junkie Cosmonaut: Sexy Jesus: So the caller explained to Eric with a K how to open the safe? How many people can possibly know that? The owner cites the fact that scammers research company org charts online to help sell the scam in his attempt to put this on mysterious scammers in the night but goes right around how they knew how to access the safe. Somebody knew there was cash and a newbie in the store, knew how to access the safe.  The number of people that an Indian convenience store owner shares his safe combo with is not a non-zero number. My money is on the owner cited in article or maybe a prodigal son.

Any convenience store owner is going to threaten themselves with death if they reveal the combination - but many people aren't very good at realizing who's potentially around and scoping them while they do so.  A conveniently "forgot to grab it" phone placed where it's recording video for a while is plenty, and most people don't think much of seeing a phone lying on a table or something.  Could quite easily be an elementary level clever ex-employee or associate that had occasional reason to be in the room with the safe


Had a girl steal an ounce of heroin from me like that, with a phone she left in my room. Got most of it back and continued sleeping with her, because, well, she was hot. We used a similar technique later in a caper on a wannabe loan shark. I concede the point.
 
XanthPrime
2023-01-25 10:33:34 AM  
Poor dumb bastard learned a hard lesson about scammers.  On the flip side, good job market, he will probably be working at the Mobil Station with the Bitcoin machine within a two weeks.
 
Barricaded Gunman
2023-01-25 10:33:51 AM  
I got fired from a gas station years ago in college, where the one rule was to NEVER CLOSE, no matter what. If the guy for the next shift after yours was late, you had to stay there and stay open until they could get a replacement for you.

So I called the new guy a few nights later around 4:30 AM to tell him I was "from Amoco HQ." With my knowledge of their systems I had him run a couple of simple reports, then convinced him to shut down the huge AMOCO sign by the freeway, turn off the lights under the canopies, lock the station doors and shut the pumps down, by telling him that the station had recieved a load of "bad gas" the day before so all the underground tanks were contaminated.

As he's doing all this, over the phone I can hear customers banging on the glass and yelling at him through the window, and he's yelling back "Bad gas! We've got bad gas! It'll ruin your engine!"

I guess my point is that it's pretty easy to put one over on the kind of people who end up working midnight shifts in gas stations.
 
QFarker
2023-01-25 10:35:18 AM  
I guess "Please call back during normal business hours!" didn't occur to him?
 
mofa [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:36:52 AM  
This just proves that Desantis is right to ban CRT and LGBTQ people. He should ban telephones and the number 2000 next.
 
HotLonelyTeenageGirl
2023-01-25 10:37:47 AM  

Munden: wage0048: Good.

Either the employee was too stupid to be allowed to keep their job or they were in on the theft.

Either way, they need to be fired.

Meh.  That $2k is gone.  It's not coming back with a new employee.  That employee just learned a lesson they likely won't make again.  The employeer should invest in employee training to help them identify the telltale signs of scams, chief among them is the sense of urgency the scammers always employ.


Lol!

Yeah, accepting a call at three AM and following instructions telling you that the corporate office for the company needs you to leave the store for two hours to deposit all the money in the safe at bitcoin ATM across town is not a simple issue of "expensive training lesson learned".

This person is either one of america's d-student criminal masterminds, or he is not competent to be left alone in a store overnight.
 
Kalyco Jack
2023-01-25 10:44:20 AM  

spongeboob: Confabulat: Well first off, the bitcoin ATM was clearly on the other side of town or maybe in Tampa because he was gone for a long time. Orlando traffic can be a biatch but not so much between 3 and 5 AM.

And did he go back to the store after the morning shift arrived? Cause that would have been pretty embarrassing. I think I'd just call that particular career a bust.

At least the caller didn't make him take his clothes off.

No didn't make him have a teen girl take off her clothes


That's Venmo, not bitcoin.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:45:02 AM  

Sexy Jesus: Had a girl steal an ounce of heroin from me like that, with a phone she left in my room. Got most of it back and continued sleeping with her, because, well, she was hot.


A good friend of ours wound up with a girlfriend that was on heroin. She made him steal money from the till at his job. He was caught and fired.

He said the same thing.

"she's hot"
 
sinko swimo
2023-01-25 10:45:27 AM  

vudukungfu: Coincidentally, as Erick leaves, an Orange County Deputy Sheriff walks into the unattended store.

Horsehockey


Free donuts!
 
Confabulat [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:47:11 AM  

Barricaded Gunman: I got fired from a gas station years ago in college, where the one rule was to NEVER CLOSE, no matter what. If the guy for the next shift after yours was late, you had to stay there and stay open until they could get a replacement for you.

So I called the new guy a few nights later around 4:30 AM to tell him I was "from Amoco HQ." With my knowledge of their systems I had him run a couple of simple reports, then convinced him to shut down the huge AMOCO sign by the freeway, turn off the lights under the canopies, lock the station doors and shut the pumps down, by telling him that the station had recieved a load of "bad gas" the day before so all the underground tanks were contaminated.

As he's doing all this, over the phone I can hear customers banging on the glass and yelling at him through the window, and he's yelling back "Bad gas! We've got bad gas! It'll ruin your engine!"

I guess my point is that it's pretty easy to put one over on the kind of people who end up working midnight shifts in gas stations.


Dude, that's pretty farked up.
 
Russ1642
2023-01-25 10:47:38 AM  
These stories go hand-in-hand with the ones about not being able to find workers because businesses aren't paying enough. In this case they were getting away with having someone who was incapable of doing the simplest job, but I bet they were farking cheap.
 
SBinRR [OhFark]
2023-01-25 10:47:42 AM  
This happens a lot, and people fall for it a lot.  Scammers know regional VP names, district manager names, executive names, how things generally work, and get a score often enough to make it a profitable game. Usually it's in gift cards.
 
Confabulat [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:49:26 AM  

Barricaded Gunman: I guess my point is that it's pretty easy to put one over on the kind of people who end up working midnight shifts in gas stations.


As someone who worked years in the graveyard shift in a Shell station, you're probably right. Me, I'd have had a good laugh if I got this guy on the phone. I think I could have a lot of fun with that.
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 10:55:04 AM  

SBinRR: Usually it's in gift cards.


My father in law, 81, fell for a scam, ran out to Target to get some gift cards. Thankfully the cashier was wise and asked him what he needed so many gift cards for. After explaining, she told him he was being scammed and not to purchase the gift cards.

He actually bought one for her for being so kind.

That's the kind of guy he is.
 
MikeyFuccon
2023-01-25 11:00:11 AM  
So why does any convenience store have a crypto ATM? Serious question.

(They always seem to be the dodgy ones too, frequented by people who probably don't have the funds to speculate in crypto.)
 
anticontent
2023-01-25 11:02:27 AM  

Barricaded Gunman: I got fired from a gas station years ago in college, where the one rule was to NEVER CLOSE, no matter what. If the guy for the next shift after yours was late, you had to stay there and stay open until they could get a replacement for you.

So I called the new guy a few nights later around 4:30 AM to tell him I was "from Amoco HQ." With my knowledge of their systems I had him run a couple of simple reports, then convinced him to shut down the huge AMOCO sign by the freeway, turn off the lights under the canopies, lock the station doors and shut the pumps down, by telling him that the station had recieved a load of "bad gas" the day before so all the underground tanks were contaminated.

As he's doing all this, over the phone I can hear customers banging on the glass and yelling at him through the window, and he's yelling back "Bad gas! We've got bad gas! It'll ruin your engine!"

I guess my point is that it's pretty easy to put one over on the kind of people who end up working midnight shifts in gas stations.


Yeah, that stupid new guy who was called on the company line and directed to save the company money by protecting customer engines.

Boy, that kid sure is dumb to not have immediately assumed it was a prank pulled by a coont.
 
grimlock1972
2023-01-25 11:03:34 AM  
First off provided the employee was not in on this theft, do they not train these people at all?   Seems like this could be avoided by insuring employees have it hammered into them that the money goes into the store safe and only the manager takes it out.

Mind to be fair i doubt this place provides much training other than how to operate the cash register and how turn the pumps on and off, along with emergency procedures, if that.
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:03:34 AM  

MikeyFuccon: So why does any convenience store have a crypto ATM?


I'm still trying to figure out who buys those fake penis enlargement/enhancement pills there.

There is a sucker born every minute, isn't there?
 
abbarach
2023-01-25 11:09:46 AM  
Not so CSB: I used to be a closing manager for a fast food place.  Once a year or so someone would try a similar scam, claiming to be from corporate.  I always told them that if they really were corporate, to contact our area manager and have him call me or stop in, and I'd be happy to follow instructions.

Turns out one time it really was corporate; we had received some contaminated food in a shipment and needed to ensure we didn't use any of it.  My area manager had absolutely no issue with corporate calling him and then calling me to relay the information.  Corporate never made an issue out of it with me, either.
 
mrmopar5287 [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:14:59 AM  

TofuTheAlmighty: Coincidentally, as Erick leaves, an Orange County Deputy Sheriff walks into the unattended store. According to the Deputy's call log, he remained on a check at the store from 3:58 A.M. to 5:30 A.M.


No, that's pretty common. A cop working an overnight shift who finds an unattended store would be alarmed by that. They'd be checking to see if the clerk was in the bathroom, in the cooler, etc. It would make the "something is wrong here" hairs on your neck stand up, and if they couldn't find the clerk within about 5 minutes it would require being on scene because it's potentially a crime going on there. Which, you know, IT WAS a crime going on there.
 
mrmopar5287 [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:19:42 AM  

grimlock1972: the money goes into the store safe and only the manager takes it out


I've only seen places that have time lock safes. Overnight staff drops cash in batches as it's accumulated in the tills and only the manager during the daytime can open the safe outside of when it's time-locked. How this guy was able to open an overnight safe with way too much cash in it is unexplained.
 
Devolving_Spud [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-25 11:20:43 AM  
What a "bitcoin ATM" might look like:

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
jjorsett
2023-01-25 11:21:16 AM  

steklo: SBinRR: Usually it's in gift cards.

My father in law, 81, fell for a scam, ran out to Target to get some gift cards. Thankfully the cashier was wise and asked him what he needed so many gift cards for. After explaining, she told him he was being scammed and not to purchase the gift cards.

He actually bought one for her for being so kind.

That's the kind of guy he is.


Obviously she was in on it.
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:21:45 AM  

abbarach: Turns out one time it really was corporate


1996. My first day on the job working at a NOC for MCI. I get my first phone call...

caller: Can I get a status on ticket 12345?
me: Sure, one sec, let me pull it up
caller: ok
me; Ok, it says we're waiting for a dispatch tech to go to site and replace a faulty D-mark.
Caller: Who is this?
Me: Pazi Steklo.
Caller: Do you know who I am?
Me: No.
Caller: Im the director for the managed services department at MCI. Who are you again? This dispatch was to have happened already, how come it's been put on hold? I'm not very happy right now.
Me: Oh. I'm new today is my first day. I'm just reading the last comment on the ticket, can't help it if no one has updated it.
Caller: Don't make me leave my office and come down there.
Me: Do what you want to do, I just told you, I'm reading directly from the ticket.


Click.

A few minutes later some guy in a bad suit comes in and talks to the NOC manager. "Who's this Steklo guy?" and the manager points at me...

He comes over. Starts being all director like at me ticked off that the guy before me didn't update the ticket like he was supposed to. I held my ground, showed him proof and he stammered off.

Ever since then he had it out for me until he quit in 2000.
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:23:39 AM  

jjorsett: Obviously she was in on it.


Well then she made a good tip that day. She did save him from losing a lot of money.
 
jjorsett
2023-01-25 11:25:37 AM  

steklo: jjorsett: Obviously she was in on it.

Well then she made a good tip that day. She did save him from losing a lot of money.


I was kidding, just in case that wasn't clear.,
 
declan294
2023-01-25 11:26:54 AM  
I know people get scammed everyday. I work in IT and had very smart friends call me to see if sending apply gift cards to the IRS was legit. The old and non-tech savvy are easy to con. However, if you really want to lose your mind considering scam phone calls that ended in much worse than just a few hundred dollars stolen watch "Don't pick up the phone" on Netflix. I have never been so, I don't think there is even a word for my mental state after watching that.
 
Sexy Jesus [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:34:09 AM  
I call gas stations all the time and convince them to close by explaining climate change.
 
spongeboob [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:39:13 AM  
I was at a gas station recently that had a sign
Do not Enter Your PIN Number(yes I know that's redundant)
If Using a Debit Card Pay At Cashier

So I'm guessing they had some problem with card skimmers
 
jmr61
2023-01-25 11:44:09 AM  

SBinRR: This happens a lot, and people fall for it a lot.  Scammers know regional VP names, district manager names, executive names, how things generally work, and get a score often enough to make it a profitable game. Usually it's in gift cards.


My brother runs a bunch of Auto Zone stores. They're always trying to find and keep competent employees. He had one of them do just that- respond to a phone call very early in the morning from the alleged district manager who told him to take all the cash from the store, go to Walmart and buy gift cards. Then scratch off the codes and take pictures of them and text to him. Got about $4000 worth of gift cards for 30 minutes effort.

It's hard to fathom being that stupid but I guess if you are that stupid you don't really recognize it so maybe life is easier.
 
A10Mechanic
2023-01-25 11:47:53 AM  

Sexy Jesus: I call gas stations all the time and convince them to close by explaining climate change.


I just ask them if they have Prince Albert in the can.
 
Some Junkie Cosmonaut
2023-01-25 11:50:07 AM  

abbarach: Not so CSB: I used to be a closing manager for a fast food place.  Once a year or so someone would try a similar scam, claiming to be from corporate.  I always told them that if they really were corporate, to contact our area manager and have him call me or stop in, and I'd be happy to follow instructions.

Turns out one time it really was corporate; we had received some contaminated food in a shipment and needed to ensure we didn't use any of it.  My area manager had absolutely no issue with corporate calling him and then calling me to relay the information.  Corporate never made an issue out of it with me, either.


Nope.  Nobody with their brain in wants people doing whatever on the basis of a pinky swear phone call with fark knows who - and most businesses (the successful ones at least) do have their brain in when it comes to business-related shiat.  About the only time I've gone with something like that without double checking, the person calling and claiming to be with the client was - she was the operations coordinator on their side - my counterpart basically.  I knew her personally.  If it's not like that, you'd better believe I'm going to check

/she needed returning images stopped until further notice - which was a major thing as we were contractually obligated to get them back by X
//but I knew who she was, and she had that authority
///one of their servers was corrupting images on receipt and they had to stop the firehose
////hard to pinpoint WTF was happening where otherwise without screwing a bunch of production images
 
steklo [TotalFark]
2023-01-25 11:50:14 AM  

jjorsett: I was kidding, just in case that wasn't clear.,


it's so hard to detect sarcasm in flat text.

It's all good. No worries.
 
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