GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Every day it seems we hear about a new scam to take your hard-earned money.
They often come in the form of a text or phone call.
Americans lose more than $330 million every year to scam artists.
This month a Gallatin woman almost lost thousands to a phone scam until a quick-thinking gas station worker stopped her.
At the Kwik Sak in Gallatin, Eric Stewart goes the extra mile for his customers.
"Hey, we got the big Slim Jims in, aren't those the ones you like," said Eric Stewart, an employee at the Kwik Sak in Gallatin.
While most days are filled with joy, that's not always the case.
"When they're talking on the phone and they're at the Bitcoin machine, that's a red flag," Stewart said.
That describes Lista Clark to a T when she came into the gas station on March 4, 2025.
She'd been on the phone for more than an hour, with what turned out to be a scammer.
The scammer even left a voicemail.
"This is Karen Johnson from Sumner County Sheriff's and Court Services, I'm looking to contact a Miss Lista Clark. This contact call is in regards to an urgent legal matter," the voicemail said.
That urgent legal matter was a supposed warrant out for her arrest.
“They said that I was being charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud against the United States government, and it also said that my name and email address had opened up 22 checking accounts for PPP loans,” said Lista Clark, a victim of a text scam.
Clark said she did receive a PPP loan during the pandemic, she thinks that may be how scammers acquired her personal information.
The documents she received via text had her actual name address phone number and social security number on them.
The caller said she needed to stay on the phone and bring thousands of dollars and deposit it in a Bitcoin machine at the Kwik Sak to pay bail ahead of time or she could be arrested and taken to jail.
At one point, the scammer even called Clark's cell phone, and the call coming in indicated it was coming from the Sumner County Sheriff's Office.
After more than an hour on the phone making stops at the bank and ultimately the gas station she came into the Kwik Sak and headed for the Bitcoin machine.
Then just before she could deposit the money, Eric Stewart ran up after seeing her enter the store and walk toward the Bitcoin machine.
"I whispered to her so the caller couldn't hear me, I was like, can you put them on mute," Stewart said. "And she goes right hold on, and she put on mute. Then I said, do you know who you're talking to, she goes no. I said ma'am this is a scam. They're gonna take your money."
Once the caller knew someone had told Clark it was a scam, the caller hung up and the ordeal ended.
"I just felt so stupid for being bamboozled,” Clark said.
However, Clark isn't the only one to fall for this scam, it's fairly common.
Stewart has seen it many times at the Kwik Sak.
"Police had came and asked us about the situation before and come to find out it was a scam," Stewart said.
So now, he keeps a watchful eye out for anyone heading to the Bitcoin machine while they're on the phone.
"Thank you so much, you saved me $6200," Clark told Stewart.
Clark reported the scam to Gallatin Police and the Sumner County Sheriff's Office, we reached out for comment about this story, but have not heard back.
Several banks have offered advice on how to avoid a PPP loan scam, including Park View Federal Credit Union.
Some tips to spot the signs may be:
- Unexpected Contact
- Threats of Legal Action
- Request for Immediate Payment
- Impersonation
Click here for more information on spotting a text scam.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
Fundraising efforts are underway in Brownsville and Nutbush, TN to build a statue for a major superstar who was raised there, Anna Mae Bullock. You probably know her by her stage name, Tina Turner. I was a huge fan of Tina and glad to see efforts are underway to showcase more of her ties to West Tennessee.
-Lelan Statom
