A vulnerable woman in Mansfield nearly lost more than £400 in a fraud.
Two Tesco workers, Sarah Rowley and Lisa Bradley, became suspicious when a woman tried to buy eight gift cards in one go.
The woman had been told that she needed to pay off a loan by putting money onto gift cards.
Now the members of staff at the Tesco Extra store in Chesterfield Road, Mansfield have been praised by police for helping the woman.
Lisa was the first to deal with the incident after a member of staff on the tills called her over.
She said: "Because we know what this kind of fraud involves, we do try to keep it at five maximum. She said that she needed to put £50 on each one of the eight.
"Often when you're in that situation they obviously don't come forward with why they want that many, but this lady looked very anxious and you could tell she was vulnerable.
Delivery driver has car stolen with 40 parcels inside in terrifying robbery
"So, because she was forthcoming with the information, I then obviously asked why she would be making repayments on a gift card.
"She said she didn't know. I asked her if she'd made any repayments before and she said no. I asked her if she'd received the loan and she said she wasn't sure.
"She hadn't spoken to this person and she was getting text messages and as we were speaking to her the phone was going as well."
Thinking that this was a genuine loan, the victim had given her bank details and became worried about what was going to happen.
After speaking to the lady, the Tesco workers found out that she had no relatives or friends at home to help her with the situation.
The pair convinced the victim to get in touch with Nottinghamshire Police. Whilst they were talking to the lady, her phone continued to get message after message.
Sarah said: "I came across and she explained again, so I said it's not right, you shouldn't be paying a loan like this.
"She kept blocking the number and then another number would come up. I told her she needed to phone 101 and let them know what was happening."
Fraudsters use online store gift cards to collect money from victims because they can be easily redeemed and sold on. They don’t need the physical card to redeem the value and will instead persuade victims to read out the serial code on the back over the phone.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: "Nottinghamshire Police advise that you make family and friends aware of the use of gift cards in scams, which is a tactic very often used.
"No genuine debt can be repaid in vouchers and any scheme which asks for repayments with gift cards and other such products should be avoided and reported.
"If you know of anyone who has fallen victim to any type of scam, please report it to Action Fraud."
Nottingham praises "amazing" BBC Big Day Out event
Woman, 25, punched during street robbery involving six men
Police working 'extremely hard' after group fight led to double stabbing in Nottingham city centre
