Sand Springs McDonald’s Nearly Scammed For Over $1K

Sand Springs police say a scammer tricked McDonald's employees into emptying their cash register drawers.

Police say someone used threats of the FBI and claims of a racketeering investigation to scare employees at the McDonald's along Highway 97 into doing what the scammer wanted.

“The night manager received a phone call from a guy named "Brian" who claimed to be in the corporate office,” said Sand Springs Police Captain Todd Enzbrenner.

Captain Enzbrenner says that call came in at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.

The caller claimed the corporate office and the FBI were investigating the district manager for racketeering.

"Brian" told the overnight manager to keep the investigation quiet then gave some instructions on what to do next.

“What he needed him to do was take all the money out of the cash register, all the loose money out of the safe and take it to 71st and Yale at the CVS there and buy Green Dot cards,” Enzbrenner explained.

The manager agreed and sent an employee out with the cash.

And because the CVS was out of the pre-paid credit cards, he was sent to Walgreens at 71st and Lewis.

Enzbrenner says the employee bought more than $1,500 worth of Green Dot cards then waited for another call from "Brian."

“When the guy called again, he got all of the numbers off the cards to that guy,” said Enzbrenner.

By this time, the manager back at McDonald's became suspicious and called police.

Officers met up with the employee at Walgreens. The store canceled the cards and refunded the money.

“Be wary that there are people out there trying to scam businesses out of money,” the captain stated. “And if it sounds bizarre, it probably is bizarre.”

And it's a tough case to crack because no one ever saw "Brian" and his call came from a blocked number.

“They could be local, they could be national, they could be international,” said Enzbrenner.

McDonald's sent News On 6 a statement saying, "When our restaurant became aware of the issue, we immediately took the appropriate steps and worked closely with authorities in their investigation. We are committed to providing assistance to our impacted crew members."