Archived What's Their Scam: Part 2

[NPC]

Hey, so there is a guest I've dealt with twice now. Here's what he's doing.

The guest comes in for a return. He wants to return a $200 knife block. According to his receipt, it was purchased less that half an hour ago, in a completely different store, at least 20 miles away. Already suspicious, right?

When I scan the receipt, and the item, I get prompted for an Approval Code. I type that in, and press total. Now, when I get to the screen that lets us choose what kind of return to give, it's like only half the screen loads. The only options that display are cash and gift card, and whatever K8 is.

In this case I told him I couldn't do the return because it was too recent and thus not in the system. He said, "okay" and left. According to the receipt, he paid with cash. However with the screen not loading properly, and the need for an Approval Code, I dont think the receipt is valid.

All I can imagine is that it's a fake receipt, or, he's using counterfeit cards or money at this other store. I've helped him twice, and both times he tried to return the exact same knife set, and his receipts were from the same day, and barely made a half hour ago from the time of him attempting the return. Thoughts?

 

[Kartman]

Snap his neck like a twig.

 

[BlueSide]

Can receipts be generated online? I'm sure they can.

 

[Kartman]

You just need to log in 7 times...

 

[NPC]

Can receipts be generated online? I'm sure they can.

Well it "looks" legitimate, however the prompts for approval codes seem suspicious to me. We do have someone whom has been printing fake receipts. We discovered this when the people inputted the wrong tax rate on the receipt. They were putting 8% for a city that had a 9% tax rate. So they aren't even making good fakes. The reason I'm suspicious of this guys's receipt, is because it's prompting all the same screens as this other guest's fake receipts. Their receipts would prompt for an approval code as well, and only give a limited set of options for reimbursement.

This guy though, I mean the times on the receipt are just SO recent, I don't think they're fake. But the fact that he's basically coming to MY store straight from the other store to immediately return such a high price item is a red flag. The first time I helped him he paid with a card, this time he paid cash though. Very odd.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Tell him that you are not able to do the return & go back to the orginial store,

 

[NPC]

Tell him that you are not able to do the return & go back to the orginial store,

Yeah luckily he's not argumentative at all. But the other lady, whom we know is using fake receipts, is argumentative. She's very hush-hush though, and never asks for a manager. That sounds like the best method so far. I'll do that if he actually comes back. He bought the "it's too soon" excuse. Either that, or he knew WE knew he was up to something. Haha.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I did it with a big smile, yesterday.

 

[OffYaPhone]

Wow. Fake receipts. I done heard it all.

 

[redeye58]

Wow. Fake receipts. I done heard it all.

I thought I had but then, spot always surprises me.

 

[Retail Girl]

We had this once at our store. It was a same day return that requires the approval code. We figured it requires the approval code because there has already been given too much money back on the receipt.

When that happened, I refused and called the LOD, who also refused to do it, making the same guess I did about too many returns on it. Unfortunately, the guest called guest services who told argued with the LOD for awhile and eventually insisted she do the return.

 

[redeye58]

Sounds like guest relations needs to get with the program.

 

[MrBullseye]

Sounds like guest relations needs to get with the program.

I've called GR in the past to say that I'm an LOD and they're about to have a call that is a fraud situation while my SDTM stalls about getting a phone for the guest and warned them they were about to have a scam call. The person on the other end then did tell the guest they couldn't be helped. So that was nice. I don't know if they can input things into a computer system for a geographic area or what, but it worked that time.

 

[NPC]

Update! Turns out he's a ticket switcher. I forgot that people did that. Now it's so obvious.

 

[copycopy]

It takes ~24 hours to do a return from another store. Same day returns end up being no receipt returns because they aren't in the system. When they seem legit I will push them through. If not I tell them they aren't going to get a full refund from us, but they can come back the next day or go to the original store. I always make sure the item matches what the pos is saying &/or look it up on the gsd ipad.