Woman gets 'petty revenge' on scammer who asked her to send £400 iTunes giftcard

23 November 2023 , 16:13

1050     0

Scammers can steal whole life savings (Image: Getty Images/Westend61)

Scammers will go to great lengths to try and exhort money out of innocent people. However, some cons are so obvious that you have to wonder if any effort went into the plan at all, which makes them the perfect candidate for revenge.

Sharing her retribution online, Tiffany Wright revealed how she went along with a fraudster posing as a reputable man of the cloth, Father Jim Deiters. Posting their email exchange on social media, it all began when Fr. Jim contacted Tiffany to ask for her help.

Going along with it, she asked how she could assist him and was promptly told that he needed a gift card to help his friend who was in hospital. Sadly, Father Jim's pal was on his death bed and the only thing that could aid his passing into heaven was a £400 ($500) iTunes voucher.

He explained that he would use the voucher to download his favorite music and videos to help boost his confidence ahead of his next surgery. Telling him she was happy to help, Tiffany replied by asking where she should take the gift card, and wondering if Father Jim would be at church so she could drop it off.

Read more: 'I took DNA test for a laugh - and accidentally uncovered my mum's devious past'

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Father Jim really wanted that iTunes gift card

Offering her an email address, Father Jim didn't waste any time following up with Tiffany just 30 minutes later to ask where the gift card was. However, it became apparent that Tiffany was having issues of her own, as she explained to Father Jim her cat was unwell and she had been tending to him.

Rushing to get back onto the subject at hand, Tiffany once again asked how she could send him the gift card as she didn't understand. Despite being a man of God and supposedly with patience at his core, Father Jim soon appeared to be getting annoyed.

He replied: "Tiffany they sell an itunes gift card at any store around you, either walmart walgreen or any dollar general store, so many stores around, i'm going for a meeting that's why I need you to go buy the card, then scratch the silver panel and you take a photo of the card then send it to the nurse email. Please lets save souls together Tiffany."

Wanting to aggravate the scammer a little bit more, Tiffany said that she had to wait for her son Balathzar to return home to drive her. She wrote: "You recall good 'ole Balthy - my little ginger you baptized when he returned home from 'nam."

Playing along, Father Jim even pretended he remembered Balthy and reminded Tiffany to keep the receipt and card as he would, of course, pay her back when they were next at church.

Tiffany hilariously continued to wind Father Jim up for a few more emails; telling him she had the wrong address for the nurse, worrying about Balthy turning his back on religion, and wondering whether he knew a good remedy for her cat's diarrhea.

After a bit more back and forth, Father Jim all but lost his temper with Tiffany and switched to using capital letters to get his point across. He wrote: "SHOW ME THE CODE, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY YOU HAVE TO DOWNLOAD THAT ONLINE, I SEE SAME PICTURE LIKE THAT, THERE IS NOTHING LIKE RUSSIA WALGREEN".

Getting her petty revenge, Tiffany finished her email chain with the priest, telling him: "I don't have the card anymore. But! I do have good news for you. I did write the code down for you: Exodus 20:15."

For anyone not familiar with the Bible, Exodus 20:15 is "Thou shall not steal". People reading Tiffany's hilarious exchange on Reddit were delighted with her retribution. One person wrote: "Came here to say this. I laughed so hard when I looked it up."

"Another reader added: "It's been a while since I've seen a good email scam. Love the praise Allah sprinkled in." And someone else shared: "This has to be the laziest scammer ever "hey what's up email me back, I need iTunes money."

Disabled woman paralysed after falling from wheelchair on plane walkway dies

The real Father Jim Deiters is a respected pastor with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Master of Divinity from Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. He does not email people asking for iTunes gift cards.

Eve Wagstaff