What kind of scam was this?

Dublindude69

Firstly I'm not sure where to post this but here is goes.

A woman came into our store with a wad of €20 euro notes, from the look of it she had at least €1000 in 20s. She wanted us to change them for €50. Since my till starts off with €100 and I don't have any 50s I told her no, not that I would have anyway.
Then she wanted to buy something for €1 and pay with €500, again I told her no and asked why doesn't she just pay with a 20. She pretended she didn't understand me (Was forign woman) and walked off.

What scam was she trying to pull? I assume the €500 was probably a fake the the wad of 20s seems odd? Should I have called the Guardi and informed them of it happening or did I not have enough evidence to go on?

Abelloid

I'd have to guess all or some notes were forgeries...

mylittlepony

Do contact local garda in the area about this fake money scam so that they can warn local businesses.

dumb_parade

I've heard of this scam before. Chances are that the money was all real.
But the woman would have changed her mind in both cases after the money or goods had changed hands. She would have pocketed some of the money you gave here and then given the rest back to you. All in the hope that you wouldnt count it the second time.

MagicSean

Yeah they try to confuse you and make off with more than they came in with. It works surprisingly often. You should give any cctv footage to the Gardaí.

not even wrong

http://www.ehow.com/how_2124296_spot-quick-change-scams.html
http://www.snarlyboodle.com/the-quick-change-short-change-scam/

Delancey

Scam works as follows - A customer ( almost invariably foreign ) offers a large value note for a small item - rest of the gang create a distraction either by staging a row or something similar and in the confusion the shop staff give back too much money ( or something along those lines ).