GARDAÍ have warned local businesses about a ‘quick change’ scam after a premises in Ballybofey was recently targeted.

A ‘quick change’ scam is a deceptive tactic where a customer attempts to get more money than they are owed by confusing a cashier into giving them incorrect change.

It often involves paying for a small item with a large amount of money and then using a series of quick hand movements and confusing dialogue to make the cashier believe they need a different amount of change.

A garda spokesperson said: “In the recent incident that occurred in Ballybofey, a few large denomination banknotes were handed over and a request was made for smaller notes to be given in return.

“Once this was done, a few of the smaller notes were then handed over and a further request was made to break those notes into smaller denominations.

“The end result was that confusion was caused by all of the quick transaction requests and the float was down.”

Change scams are carried out in a very professional way and the cashier will often not even realise that they have been scammed until the float is counted later in the evening.

Gardaí said these scammers may often target young and more inexperienced employees who may not be as aggressive in managing the confusion of multiple transactions and who are more wary of slowing down a line of customers.