On my last two trips to the local Walmart Supercenter in South Arlington, Texas, I’ve been approached by Gypsy scam artists working inside the store. When I reported them to the manager yesterday, she was familiar with the scam and immediately notified their on-duty security personnel the family was in the store.
The group working this Walmart is all female. An older woman pushing a loaded shopping cart supervises the crew of younger women who approach elderly shoppers who are alone to put the touch on them. The young girl approaches the shopper to ask for money to help her with an ailing child. Last week, it was because her baby needed vaccinations.
Yesterday, a different young girl said she needed special baby formula for her baby. When I refused to give her cash, she showed me two cans of hypoallergenic baby formula she said she needed, at almost $50 per can, and asked me to buy them for her. I’m sure that if I had, she would have immediately taken them to customer service for a refund or store credit.
The girl who approached me last week and the one who approached me yesterday had slightly dark complexions and both spoke with a mild accent, not quite Spanish but one I couldn’t identify. The same older woman with a shopping cart was watching halfway down the aisle both times, monitoring her subordinates.
I know from my days as a cop that the Gypsy men run the driveway resurfacing scams, as well as roofing and car bodywork scams. Back then, I was never aware of the grocery store begging scam. I don’t think the grocery store scam would work in a smaller store, but in the huge Walmart Supercenter, it’s easy for the team to stay lost in the crowd.
So beware of beggars in the supermarkets. They are scammers and con artists, not the down-on-their-luck poor mothers they claim to be.
Please repost this warning to others in your circle of contacts and followers.