A manager at a Johnston County restaurant fell victim to an online telephone scam that cost the company $5,500. JoCoReport has learned the incident happened Sunday afternoon at the Bojangles on Highway 42 near I-40 in Cleveland.
Around 5:30pm, the manager received a phone call from a person pretending to be with the Bojangles corporate office. The caller claimed they needed the money moved out of the building immediately and instructed the manager to obtain pre-paid credit cards and they would call back later to obtain the card numbers.
The manager reportedly took $5,500 in cash and obtained pre-paid cards from three Cleveland area businesses. When the scam artist called the Bojangles restaurant back, the manager gave the fraudster the credit card numbers.
Officials said this is the latest in a series of scams targeting restaurants across the country.
A Chick-fil-A manager in California gave away thousands of dollars to a person who claimed to be the company’s chief executive officer who said the franchise operator owned money to the corporate office.
A Taco Bell worker in Arkansas received a call from a person who said they were the vice president of the company and the restaurant manager was about to be arrested. They were in the process of wiring a large sum of money to an unknown location when they were stopped by another manager.
In February, a Denver fast food restaurant received a call from an individual claiming to be a Deputy Marshal with the IRS who demanded $1,800 be wired to them for past due taxes.
