COLUMBIA – Fretboard Coffee said someone impersonating a Columbia Police Department officer on the phone scammed an employee into putting the company’s cash on a Visa gift card.
In a Facebook post, Fretboard said the suspect convinced the staff member the business was under investigation for having counterfeit money. The scammer called from owner Dave Elman’s phone number, and told the employee it was okay to transfer the money.
The post said one other small business has been “successfully targeted” in the same way. Fretboard is working with CPD to prevent it from happening again, but “in the meantime, our employee is devastated and so are we.”
KOMU 8 reached out to CPD for more information but has not received a response yet.
