Woman sought in $100 quick switch at Hauppauge market

Suffolk County police are looking for a woman who is twice suspected of deceiving cashiers at a Hauppauge market to steal nearly $200.

The Fourth Precinct crime section said the woman went to cashiers last year at the Giunta's Meat Farms store at 575 Nesconset Hwy. to purchase a 99-cent item with a $100 bill.

The scam unfolds, police said, as the cashier starts to make change for the $100. The customer quickly announces she has a $1 bill to pay for the item instead. The cashier returns the $100 bill to her and takes the $1 bill.

As the cashier is returning the $99 in change to the register, the woman switches her $100 bill with a $1 bill. She then tells the cashier she did not get her $100 back, showing the cashier a $1 bill.

Each time, Giunta's Meat Farms was out $99, police said. In the scam, the woman leaves with her original $100 bill and another $100 bill.

"It's a fast one," said Sgt. Timothy Burns of the Fourth Precinct. "Because of the flip-flop back and forth, there's confusion."

Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 800-220-8477. All calls will be kept confidential.