BATON ROUGE - A scam artist fled the scene of their operation with $700 in stolen gift cards after a store clerk became suspicious during a conversation of how the individual was going to pay for the cards.

The person speaking with the store clerk was attempting to pay for the cards with a credit card and tried to use a false story about typing in a special code during a credit card transaction when the clerk became nervous.  Detectives said there is a known scam where people with knowledge of how a credit card machine works attempt to trick the machine into reporting a cash transaction by typing in a code.

The person at the counter tried to convince the clerk to use the code.  When the clerk became wary and suggested the store manager get involved, the person grabbed all the gift cards and ran from the store.

The gift cards were apparently loaded with money.

The incident happened at the Target on Millerville in December.  They released the attached image of a potential suspect in a message Friday in an effort to get help identifying the person. 

***********************

Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz