Many TikTokers often take to the social media app to share their favorite Target products, experiences or items. Last month, however, one user Ariana Tomlinson (@arianatomlinson2323) went viral after telling the story of another customer scamming her at her local Target. In the weeks since, she’s garnered millions of views and raised scamming as a concern for Target shoppers and those who frequent similar department stores.
In the first video of Tomlinson’s popular 3-part storytelling series, she says to viewers: “The most insane thing that I have ever experienced happened at Target. This lady was in the aisles, and she asked my boyfriend if he could buy her baby formula. And he came up to me and was like, ‘hey this lady asking me for baby formula. I’m gonna go help her out.'”
@arianatomlinson2323apparently this scam is very popular i cant believe i fell for it♬ original sound – arianatomlinson23
Target Shopper Shares Scamming Story on TikTok to Warn Fellow Customers
The creator continued: “I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll help her too…’ This lady has an entire basket full of formula. Me and him don’t have kids or anything. So we’re not really aware of the prices of formula. It was like 5 cans. And we thought it would be a little pricey but nothing crazy.” The scammer then explained her situation to the young woman and her boyfriend, as The Daily Dot notes, and she continued to load her cart with more and more supplies.
Once the trio got to the self-checkout aisle, the woman kept telling her sob story. At this point, Tomlinson said, she started to realize a gut feeling emerging that her kind act was being taken for granted. “The numbers are getting pretty high, and she’s trying to distract me,” Tomlinson told her TikTok followers.
She then noted that the woman who asked for baby formula gave Tomlinson her phone number to supposedly pay her back. Tomlinson confessed: “I let her do it because I see the number and I’m like I cannot afford this…I call it and she goes, ‘oh I got it’. Her phone did not light up, it did not ring, there wasn’t a sound or vibration nothing. That should have been a red flag to me. I look over, and it’s 800 dollars.”
@arianatomlinson2323 Replying to @sab ♬ original sound – arianatomlinson23
Tomlinson then swiped her card. “My boyfriend is looking like he just saw a ghost,” she said. “But we didn’t wanna seem like a—holes and be like never mind put it all back, so we pay for it.” Just as Tomlinson was removing the receipt, she noticed that she was being scammed and figured out that the woman’s plan was to return the baby-related items to Target for cash or store credit.
The couple got their receipt in the nick of time, but didn’t confront the woman. Instead, they went to the Target customer service desk to ask an employee for help. While relaying their story to the store manager, Tomlinson said she saw another woman returning a cart full of baby supplies right next to them. This woman, she explained, closely resembled her scammer, spoke a similar-sounding language, and seemed to be listening intently to what they were saying.
Tomlinson continued her story in a second TikTok video. The Target manager told the couple that they needed the actual baby formula items in order to get their money back. While heading to the parking lot, Tomlinson said she saw the second woman (who was returning baby formula at customer service) get into a silver vehicle.
Even though this wasn’t her original scammer, Tomlinson said she felt it was too much of a coincidence to ignore. “So I pull up right next to her…and she definitely saw me but I took a picture of her license plate,” she continued. At this point, Tomlinson decided to follow this woman. Just as they got to the main road, Tomlinson and her boyfriend spotted a very similar car, in gold, that was pulling out of the parking lot.
@arianatomlinson2323 Replying to @Sara Michelle ♬ original sound – arianatomlinson23
Tomlinson claimed that right as the gold car sped off, the woman in the silver car blocked her way, and prevented the TikTok creator from following her suspected Target scammer. By swiftly maneuvering, Tomlinson noted she was able to get away from the silver car and catch up to the gold one. Following the car onto the highway, Tomlinson said that the woman finally put her hazard lights on and pulled over onto the shoulder.
In Tomlinson’s final and third video, she stressed that she and her boyfriend only wanted to ask the woman for the baby formula back and tell her that they couldn’t afford the $800 worth of goods they paid for. Before they were even able to, the woman rolled her window down and threw out a large Target bag before driving away. Tomlinson said her boyfriend retrieved the bag and they headed back to their Target store.
Luckily, the manager allowed them to return all of the items for cash. “So we got the money back and everything but it was terrifying,” Tomlinson said while concluding her series. She warned fellow Target shoppers: “If anybody asks you to buy baby stuff, don’t do it.”
