The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce is issuing an alert that the “quick change scam” has made its way to the territory.

Chamber president Rick Karp sent out the alert to members last Wednesday.

He told the Star he heard about the scam via Crime Stoppers, and the RCMP later asked the chamber to send out an alert.

Karp said the initial information was that the scam was being perpetrated in northern British Columbia, but had not made its way to the Yukon.

After sending out the alert, he said he received multiple email responses stating the scam is already taking place in the Yukon.

“When that went out, we got a couple of emails saying it’s here,” Karp said.

All the cases he is aware of are in Whitehorse. He has not heard of a case outside the city, but said his database only covers Whitehorse.

He said he’s heard of four or five cases himself. He notified the RCMP and sent out an update.

Karp gave a description of how this scam works.

Usually, one or two people enter a business and go to the front counter, to a cashier or to a drive-thru to make a small purchase.

The perpetrator will pay with a larger bill, usually $50 or $100, and try to distract the cashier.

He gave examples of distractions, like asking to get some of the change in loonies for parking. The goal is to cause enough of a distraction so the cashier forgets what the perpetrator paid with.

“They really want to distract the cashier,” Karp said.

The perpetrator will claim that he or she was short-changed, and demand the correct change be given.

Karp explained that the perpetrator will start to be anxious and aggressive at this point. There may be accusations levied against a cashier of being incompetent.

This can be made worse for the employee who may see customers lining up inside the building inside or outside at the drive-thru.

Some may feel tempted to just give in to keep the lines moving, he said.

He added that some perpetrators have gone back to the same businesses to attempt the scam multiple times. This has caused some businesses to catch on to the routine.

Karp said he heard of a case where an owner/operator had someone attempt the scam while they were working the cash register.

It didn’t work. He did not identify the business involved.

“After it’s happened a few times, they’re (businesses) alerted to this,” he said.

Karp explained that now a lot of managers or owners are coming out to see what is happening when a customer is acting aggressively.

He touched upon some of the impacts.

Apart from the financial loss to the business, the ordeal is upsetting for the employees. He said it causes undue stress on good workers and the manager or the owner when someone is yelling at them when they did nothing wrong.

Karp offered some tips for anyone who think someone is perpetrating this scam. The first thing he recommended to do is stop, take a deep breath and look inside your cash register. If the perpetrator claimed to have handed you a $50 or $100 bill, Karp noted, it will be there.

“It’s going to be in your till, so look and see,” he said.

If there was one of those bills in the till before the incident, he pointed out, the staff person should remember it. He recommended not to react to the customer, and call for the manager.

Karp also suggested not to get stressed out because of a long lineup.

You can always be honest and apologize to those customers afterward, he said. Customers can be told that there was an incident earlier, he added.

“Don’t give in to someone who is yelling or accusing you of being stupid or anything like that, because you are not,” Karp said.