An Emporia woman thanked a Walmart clerk in person Friday after the employee convinced her not to send money to a scam artist posing as Bishop T.D. Jakes.
"I thank her so much for what she did," said Claudette Woodley. "If she hadn't been persistent, oh boy, I could have made a mistake."
"They train us on that," said Shacelle Ferguson. "We have a lot of people that send money across the country. You never know who it's going to end up with, so we check, we try to make sure people don't get scammed."
Woodley contacted NewsChannel 3 about the catfishing scam Wednesday. She said someone with a profile name of Bishop T.D. Jakes with the famous preacher's picture started sending her messages on Facebook. She believed it was a miracle.
"I felt so good because it said Bishop Jakes invited me as a friend," Woodley said.
She told the so-called Jakes that she needed a new furnace. She got a message back saying she'd be blessed with $50,000 if she wired $80 to Nigeria.
Those details signaled an alarm to Ferguson, who encouraged Woodley not to send the money.
NewsChannel 3 presented Ferguson with a NewsChannel 3 Taking Action Award, which comes with a $100 gift certificate from our partners at Southern Bank.
