TROY, Ill. — Police believe a 6-year-old Illinois boy is at the center of a pizza scam that delivered fake gift cards to unsuspecting customers in an area about 20 miles east of St. Louis.
According to a statement posted to Facebook by the Troy Police Department, the boy was selling “buy one, get one free” gift cards for Domino’s Pizza, stating that the proceeds would benefit his youth baseball team.
The boy was last described as “wearing a dirty pink baseball uniform with a Southern accent,” police said.
The juvenile is likely accompanied by an adult, police said.
Tom Eilers, a victim of the scam, said he did not care about losing the money but was concerned about the child.
“It’s a sad day that they use a little boy,” Eilers, the owner of ADR Towing in Troy, told KTVI.
Eilers said the boy walked into his office at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday and was selling peel-away Domino’s Pizza coupon cards, according to the television station.
The cards read “delivering the dough, $10″ on one side, with 16 peel-off “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” stickers on the other, KTVI reported.
“I thought to myself, a little boy wouldn’t know what he’s doing when he’s selling these,” Eilers told the television station.
Domino’s officials confirmed that victims were trying to use the cards at the pizza chain’s locations in the Illinois cities of Troy, Maryville, Edwardsville, Mount Vernon and Salem, KTVI reported.
There are legitimate fundraising cards being sold, and they contain the slogan, “Slice the Price” along with a redemption code on the front, lower left-hand corner of the cards.
Peel-off cards without codes are fakes.
“It’s always a good idea to call the fundraiser businesses to see if gift cards are valid if you suspect any suspicious activity,” the Troy Police Department wrote on Facebook.
Residents in the area are angry that a child is being exploited.
“I think that’s a pretty low thing to do, Dan Mainer, of Edwardsville, told KTVI. “Children are sacred, in my opinion.”
“(The boy’s) been trained professionally how to answer questions to con you out of your money,” Eilers told the television station. “It’s awful. It’s a shame.”