Winn-Dixie customer service clerks in Stuart foil scammer

STUART — Alert customer service clerks at the Winn-Dixie in the 2100 block of South Federal Highway saved a Stuart couple $2,796, which they were about to send to a scam artist posing as their grandson, according to Sgt. Martin Jacobson of the Stuart Police Department.

Joan Denby went to the store Saturday to purchase a money order to send to their “grandson” who had called them from Niagara Falls, Canada, saying he needed money to get out of jail after being arrested on a marijuana charge.

The “grandson” even had some one posing as a Canadian customs officer come on the phone and confirm that he was under arrest.

Clerks at the store heard the story and persuaded her to delay sending the money until the story could be verified, Jacobson said.

Denby and her husband, Charles, returned home and began making telephone calls. They found their grandson in Cape Coral. He had not been arrested in Canada and was unaware of any calls from Canada.

About 3 p.m., the person pretending to be the grandson called to know where the money was and when it would arrive. The Denbys told him they knew he was a fraud and he hung up.

Jacobson said the money, if it had been sent, would have gone to a London reception point, not Canada.