Sally Beauty Supply Employee Wires Money Despite Suspecting Hoax

A Bethlehem business is short almost $500 after an employee wired money at the request of a caller who said she was with the company's loss prevention department. 

On Wednesday, May 30, a deputy with the was dispatched to in the Barrow Crossing shopping center in Bethlehem in reference to a theft report. 

Upon arrival, the deputy spoke with an employee, who said she was working May 29 when she received a suspicious phone call. The employee said the female caller identified herself as “Nancy” with Sally Beauty Supply loss prevention.

The caller reportedly told the employee there had been an accident, likely a slip and fall, in the store in the past month that had gone undocumented by personnel. According to an incident report, “Nancy”, who was calling from an unknown number, told the employee the customer involved in the undocumented accident was seeking reimbursement for medical expenses incurred as a result of the fall.

“Nancy” reportedly then asked the employee how much money the store had taken in that day. The caller then reportedly told the employee to stop accepting cash transactions and to only accept payment by credit and debit card purchases for the rest of the day.

When the employee told the caller that she needed to clear that change in payment receiving policy with either her manager or general manager, “Nancy” reportedly began yelling, saying someone was going to get fired over the situation and that if the employee didn’t want to be one of the people getting fired, she needed to do as she was told.

According to an incident report, the caller then instructed the employee to take the day's profits — $497 — and go to CVS to wire the funds using information the caller provided.

When the Sally Beauty Supply employee spoke to the deputy she only had the person's name to which the wire transfer was to be sent. 

While being instructed what to do, the employee said she told “Nancy” that the call sounded like a hoax, at which time “Nancy” reportedly became increasingly upset and yelled even more harshly. The employee then traveled to in Winder, where she made the transfer of funds using Money Gram.

The employee told the deputy that Sally Beauty Supply needed to have the incident documented due to the loss of funds. 

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