Most of us want to believe that we are kind and generous individuals who will do our best to pay it forward and take care of others when we’re able.
Sadly, that means sometimes, some of us are gonna get scammed.
TikToker Ariana Tomlinson revealed in a 3-part-TikTok series how she and her boyfriend were almost those people at Target.
@arianatomlinson2323 apparently this scam is very popular i cant believe i fell for it
They were shopping when her boyfriend came up to her.
“This lady was in the aisles, and she asked my boyfriend if he could buy her baby formula. And he came up to me and was like, ‘hey this lady asking me for baby formula. I’m gonna go help her out.'”
When Ariana met the woman, she had five cans of formula in her basket, but that quickly changed as more items joined the first.
The bill ended up over $800.
“My boyfriend is looking like he just saw a ghost. But we didn’t wanna seem like assholes and be like never mind put it all back, so we pay for it.”
It wasn’t long before Ariana and her boyfriend realized the woman was just going to return it all for cash, but Target told them there was nothing they could do.
@arianatomlinson2323 Replying to @sab making part 3 rn
Then, Ariana saw a similar-looking woman returning a full cart of baby supplies, so she and her boyfriend followed her out of the store. Their scammer was not in the car with her, but Ariana took a picture of the license plate anyway.
As luck would have it, they did see their scammer pull out of the parking lot when they went to follow the second woman onto the road.
Eventually their scammer pulled over, tossed Target bags out the window, and then kept driving.
@arianatomlinson2323 Replying to @Sara Michelle they had to open a new register and everything but they gave us cash so that we wouldnt have to wait for the funds to be available it was so sweet
They were able to return the items and get their money back, but it’s clear Ariana is reeling from the close call.
“So we got the money back and everything but it was terrifying. If anybody asks you to buy baby stuff, don’t do it.”
The comments were turned off for these videos, but I can only imagine that somebody has been scammed this way.
Still, let that be a lesson to you. It’s one thing to splurge on items for an actual baby, but no one wants to drop that much cash for nothing.