This guardian angel flies by her gut

This guardian angel flies by her gut
Carrie Smith, 68, is a one-woman fraud alert. From her perch behind the customer-service desk, she can sense the evil of the outside world sending good people to the MoneyGram machine, which is used to wire money throughout the country and beyond.


Nicole Brodeur

Seattle Times staff columnist
The elderly woman was in a wheelchair, so she struggled to pass the envelope over the counter.

Carrie Smith opened it to find $4,000 in cash. The woman had taken the money from her savings to send to someone who had called, saying her daughter was in trouble and needed money — fast.

"You don't want to do this," Smith told the woman, who had taken the bus to the Walmart in Renton to wire the money off.

Then there was the unemployed woman who sold her mother's silver online for $750. The buyer sent her a check for $1,100: Could she deposit the check and wire back the extra $350?

Again, Smith listened to the story, then to her gut.

"You don't want to do this," she said.

Smith, 68, is a one-woman fraud alert. From her perch behind the customer-service desk, she can sense the evil of the outside world sending good people to the MoneyGram machine, which is used to wire money throughout the country and beyond.
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