Woman says fast-thinking teller saved her from scam

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A quick-thinking bank teller helped save a local woman from a scam and now she hopes someone else will learn the same lesson.

“People are vulnerable these days,” Princetta Sumner said.

Sumner said she was looking for a part-time job when she got an email saying there’s a job promoting Miller Lite, if she wants it.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I am very excited about it.’ He said, ‘OK, we will send a check back to you,’” she said.

The next day, Sumner said she got a check in the mail for over $1,500 and a letter with instructions. The letter instructed her to keep $300 for herself and use the rest to buy E-bay gift cards to get her car wrapped.

“I said, ‘I know what I am going to do, I am going to try it,’” Sumner said.

Sumner went to a PNC bank branch on Cobb Parkway to deposit. She said the teller told her it’s a scam.

“She looked it up and she said, ‘I’ve got tons of checks over here with the same account numbers on it,’” Sumner said.

The Better Business Bureau told Channel 2 Action News scams like this can cost innocent people thousands of dollars.

“If they are asking to deposit the check, send a certain amount of money with a wire transfer or gift cards and send it to us, that is a red flag that is a scam,” Mike Boynton, with BBB, said.

Sumner said she’s learned an important lesson and hopes you will too.

“I said, 'Somebody needs to know about this’ and low and behold I called you and thank God so this can be put out there,” Sumner said.

Channel 2′s Lauren Pozen contacted PNC Bank. A spokeswoman told her while they can’t go into training specifics because of security reasons, their tellers are always looking for opportunities to help customers.

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