Two "chatty conmen" are confusing cashiers at stores around Bloemfontein and getting richer with their swift and sneaky action at the cash register.
Their latest victim was the Engen garage in Heidedal.
On the day of the con on Thursday last week, one of the men entered the store, picked up a juice and went to the till.
"They come into the shop but don't walk together. They act as if they don't know each other," Engen manager Papi Matsa told TimesLIVE on Monday morning.
The conman who appears "cool, calm and collected" pays for the juice with a R200 note. He is given change of R180 and some coins.
But this is where the con starts. One of the men distracts the cashier with conversation as "cover", while the other questions the change he has been given.
Matsa said: "He got his full change from the male cashier, but secretly handed the R100 to the next guy and then claimed to the cashier that he was not given full change.
"That is how they scam the cashiers - they confuse them and try to extort as much as they can."
Matsa said the "confused" cashier then handed him a second R100 to make up for the "error".
The second conman tried the same trick with a female cashier, but the woman told him that she wanted to check the footage first before giving him any money.
"As the cashier went to the office, that guy left and didn't wait for her to come back," said Matsa.
"It is the first time we've seen anything like this."
Matsa said they did not open a case but shared the footage as a warning to other businesses.
"We don't know them but we put the video up to make other people aware of this," he said. "When people start confusing you and start talking too much at the tills, you must know something fishy is going on."
WATCH | 'Chatty conmen' confuse cashiers into giving them money
Two "chatty conmen" are confusing cashiers at stores around Bloemfontein and getting richer with their swift and sneaky action at the cash register.
Their latest victim was the Engen garage in Heidedal.
On the day of the con on Thursday last week, one of the men entered the store, picked up a juice and went to the till.
"They come into the shop but don't walk together. They act as if they don't know each other," Engen manager Papi Matsa told TimesLIVE on Monday morning.
The conman who appears "cool, calm and collected" pays for the juice with a R200 note. He is given change of R180 and some coins.
But this is where the con starts. One of the men distracts the cashier with conversation as "cover", while the other questions the change he has been given.
Matsa said: "He got his full change from the male cashier, but secretly handed the R100 to the next guy and then claimed to the cashier that he was not given full change.
"That is how they scam the cashiers - they confuse them and try to extort as much as they can."
Matsa said the "confused" cashier then handed him a second R100 to make up for the "error".
The second conman tried the same trick with a female cashier, but the woman told him that she wanted to check the footage first before giving him any money.
"As the cashier went to the office, that guy left and didn't wait for her to come back," said Matsa.
"It is the first time we've seen anything like this."
Matsa said they did not open a case but shared the footage as a warning to other businesses.
"We don't know them but we put the video up to make other people aware of this," he said. "When people start confusing you and start talking too much at the tills, you must know something fishy is going on."
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