A family is claiming that they have been cheated of over $30 after their daughter came home with change for $20 instead of $50, which the mother says she gave the girl to make a purchase at a Chinese store in the Lake Independence area this morning at about 7:30.

The girl returned to the store 7:30 this evening, 12 hours after the purchase, to request the remainder of the money, but the storeowner was adamant that she had been paid with $20, and that she had given change for that amount.

Police were called by the irate mother in an effort to recover the remainder of her money, but the effort failed. The police said that the family must accept the loss, if indeed they had taken $50, instead of $20, to the store—which could not be confirmed since the serial number of the money is not known and thus could not be pinpointed. Furthermore, many transactions had been done during the day – making it impossible to ascertain the details of a single transaction which happened early in the morning, and, in any case, he, the officer, had no authority to check the store’s cash drawer.

The officer said that it was the fault of the family, because who was buying should have checked the change before leaving the counter.

Consumers are reminded to check their money before passing it over for payment, and to check that the change is correct before walking away from the counter.