A customer alleged a Popeye’s employee stole her Bank of America card information and attempted to use it several times on Cash App. She says she proactively locked her card through her Bank of America app after becoming suspicious of how long the drive-thru attendant had her card.
TikToker Shanice Campbell (@shanice_campbell0) shared the story in response to another TikTok user’s warning against using their card in fast food establishment drive-thrus.
“Be careful giving your bank card or credit card to a cashier in a drive-thru,” the other TikToker begins before clip before Campbell interjects to share the story, which was viewed over 140,000 times.
“A month ago, I went to Popeye’s after I got off work because everybody was saying they wanted something to eat. So I go through the drive-thru; the girl taking long as hell, like, long as hell. I be trying to give fast-food workers the benefit of the doubt. … Y’all be overworked, y’all be understaffed, y’all be stressed out, so I’m like maybe it’s me just being paranoid, so I’m like OK, whatever,” she says. “So, she gave me my card back. I pull off. I park on the side. I lock my card.”
She says she banks with Bank of America, which allows customers to lock their cards in the app. She says the following day, someone tried to use her card several times but that she received notifications from Bank of America considering it was locked.
She says one of the workers tried to use her card on Cash App four times.
“If it don’t work the first time or the second time, why would you try a third or fourth time? That’s dumb,” she says. “I sped my black ass up there, because I ain’t the one. So when I got through the drive-thru, it was the same girl who did my card the day before. She’s like, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ I’m like, ‘I wanna speak to manager.’ She’s like, ‘OK.’ So the manager come to the door, and I tell her, like, ‘Oh somebody in here took a picture of my card and tried to use it on Cash App.’”
She says the manager expressed confusion and that she told the manager to check the cameras.
@shanice_campbell0 #stitch with @1shaye #greenscreen #cicero #popeyes #scammerstorytime ♬ original sound – Shanice Campbell
“She like, ‘Well you have to wait till either a district manager’s here or a store manager because I don’t have access to that,’” Campbell continues.
She says she went back the following day. “It was another girl, same thing: ‘Oh you have to wait till a store manager, a district manager,’” she says. She says she then wrote a bad review for the location.
Her video then shows a green screen featuring a negative review she penned about her experience at the Popeye’s, explaining what allegedly happened with her card. “Like thank God my card was locked, and nothing was taken out, but I was a little irritated because I literally got paid the day after this, and I couldn’t use my card,” she says. “Had to go to the bank and do withdrawals. … Nobody got time to be going to the bank carrying cash. Like y’all just stupid.”
Con artist-turned FBI employee, and the subject of Steven Spielberg’s film Catch me if You Can, Frank Abagnale Jr., has warned against using debit cards, encouraging consumers to pay with credit cards whenever possible. The Federal consultant against fraud states that the ability to contest charges against credit cards means you’ll have a higher chance of getting that money back. Plus, your actual money in the bank won’t be affected. But if you use a debit card, those funds aren’t readily available and can take weeks, if not months, until it’s returned. Similarly, you could follow the same cautionary measures that Campbell does and lock your card whenever you don’t plan on using it, and just unlock it when you’re about to make a purchase.
In 2021 alone, there were 390,000 reported cases of credit card fraud in the United States.
The Daily Dot reached out to Campbell via TikTok comment and Popeye’s via email for further comment.
