Retail Scam---Please Read!!!!!

I'm hoping this is the right place to put this, if it isn't then I ask that the mods please direct this thread to the proper forum.

(Just a note: This information was sent to me from a most trusted friend, and I pass it on here, that you will not be played by this scheme.)


RETAIL SCAM--PLEASE READ!!!

It could happen anywhere you ask or don't ask for cash back!..





It happened at Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #1279, 10411 N Freeway 45, Houston, TX 77037 a month ago. I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it. She said I'd have to take the $40 because she couldn't delete it. I told her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it. I said NO! Taking the $40 would be a cash advance against my Discover & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order.
So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & re-scan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed & a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier agreed that the electronic pad must be defective. Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed?

Just to alert everyone. My co worker went to Milford, DE Wal-Mart last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co worker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for $20 cash back. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK! My co-worker called Wal-Mart who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her this. This is a new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in line.

Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards!

This is NOT limited to Wal-Mart, although they are the largest retailer so they have the most incidents

I am adding to this. My husband and I were in Wal-Mart North Salisbury and paying with credit card when my husband went to sign the credit card signer he just happen to notice there was a $20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said this machine has been messing up and she cancelled it. We really didn't think anything of it until we read this email.

I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one????

To make matters worse ...THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!!!




[mod edit: title - All Caps]

[edit on 19-11-2009 by 12m8keall2c]

seems to me this is nothing but a hoax.

www.snopes.com...

If you use a debit card for payment pretty much anywhere, you get offered a "cash back" option. Just make sure you say "no". However, I've never seen anything like that using credit, anywhere.

Why do people copy and paste worthless chain emails? For god's sake, do you really think you are being helpful? This reminds me of the thread that says onions are the ultimate pathogen killer, and that if you have the flu and put and onion in your room it will turn black by morning and the flu will be gone. Humans can be so dumb.


reply to post by starsyren

Loss Prevention/Risk management at any mid to large retail outfit, would be all over this. It's sorta employee theft class 101 .

reply to post by starsyren


I just want to say I'm not trying to flame the OP, who probably is well-intentioned, but information is so readily available to investigate 'urban myths,' that one should take a couple minutes to investigate before pulling the fire alarm.

Originally posted by skunknuts
Why do people copy and paste worthless chain emails? For god's sake, do you really think you are being helpful? This reminds me of the thread that says onions are the ultimate pathogen killer, and that if you have the flu and put and onion in your room it will turn black by morning and the flu will be gone. Humans can be so dumb.


reply to post by starsyren

 

Moldovan army gives soldiers extra onions and garlic to fight swine flu after 24 fall sick.

blog.taragana.com...

Sorry man, had to do it.

May just be a coincidence, but this has happened to both me and my wife at a Kroger's grocery store in Memphis, TN. I had checked out using my debit card, punched "no" to cash back and then when I got the receipt, I noticed it seemed a little high for what I purchased and then noticed the $20 cash back. I took the cash scratching my head thinking to myself that I must have hit the wrong button on the pad. (note: The cashier did not offer the money with my receipt and I had to ask her for it.)

Then it was confirmed when the same exact thing happened to my wife the next week at the same grocery store. My wife and I figured it was some sort of scam but really couldn't put our finger on it. When my wife asked the cashier why this kept happening, the cashier said she didn't know and would have someone look into it.

We both agreed just to start paying very close attention to our receipts from then on out.

So coincidence or not, this has happened first hand to me!

reply to post by Mudman21


Thank you for your post. It's nice to see that not all of us dumb humans find these notifications worthless.

reply to post by Crakeur


Snopes cannot be trusted, even a little bit! Here's what I have found:

Snopes was created in 1995 by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a California couple who met on the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup. The Mikkelsons also founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, and were credited as the owners of the site until 2005. Barbara now works on the site full time, while David, a programmer, works on the site part time. It's two people, not some giant staff spending every day researching every hoax and scam.

reply to post by starsyren


This is the sort of info that normally circulates on viral emails, but I see no harm in informing people by thread, especially if, as mentioned by a previous poster, this has actually happened to them, which blows the urban myth theory out the window.

Here in the UK, you are normally asked if you want cash back and are then asked to sign your till receipt to acknowledge you have received your cash. I guess it's down to the teller to ensure you sign, else you can come back and claim you did not receive it.

[edit on 19-11-2009 by Koka]

Originally posted by Crakeur
seems to me this is nothing but a hoax.

www.snopes.com...

I'm not convinced...

In virtually every case, when customers complain about getting cash back from credit/debit card purchases without having requested it, the cause is that those customers didn't pay close enough attention to the prompts on the card processing keypads, or they simply pressed the wrong keys. (On rare occasions, a mechanical malfunction might also result in the initiation of an erroneous cash back request.)

Sounds good but.. so they press the wrong key and don't notice. "heres your $20 cash back." Hard to not notice that. Even if it was an accident, they didn't get their cash back.

It sounds pretty elaborate to have someone wait in line you know, do the whole scam and pass them off a mere $20, but I'm not convinced it's not possible.

People should look at their receipts anyways, theirs other scams to watch out for.

[edit on 11/20/2009 by Bumr055]

reply to post by EnlightenUp


I'm with you ..... as far as I know YOU CAN"T do cash back on credit.... HOAX

Now that the original store is going around the Internet you know that some less then honest store clerks are going to try it.

And by the way this is a old story that has bee passing around for a couple years.

As for the WalMart part if one of the card machines screw up all the have to do is unplug it and plug a new card scanner

I have seen that done when someone ahead of me used the scanner and it stopped working.

Also every checkout counter at WalMart has at lest one camera on it at all times and the register sales is recorded.
They both have time stamps that show what is happening at the register at all times.

The thing you really have to watch for is some items have two scanner bar codes on them.
Books are one of these items.
If the clerk scans the printed one on the book instead of the reduced price stick on label that WalMart put on the book/idem you may be charged the higher price.
I have had this happen twice in the last year at WalMart.
both times I caught it and had the clerk rescan and ring up the proper price.

This is also the season for stores to put sales signs up on items and then when they scan its at the regular price.
this happens in big stores all over the US because everything is computerized and its easy for the stores not to up date the sales prices.

Originally posted by Crakeur
seems to me this is nothing but a hoax.

www.snopes.com...

Snopes? You must ask yourself how in the world they can research every event to boldly say "FALSE"? Even they admit at the end of the article there is a chance that it might be true. Come on.........

Of course, its always possible that an unscrupulous cashier might "Accidentally" neglect to give a customer some or all of a requested cash back amount and then pocket the money if the customer fails to notice the descerepancy before leaving the store

but we havent turned up any evidence showing this to be a common or widespread form of scam

www.snopes.com...

If it has happened at least once, its common to the person it happened to!!! Accidentally?????????? forget to give the person their money? COME ON!!

Wide spread or not, READ YOUR RECEIPT Stop trusting the system...

Originally posted by Crakeur
seems to me this is nothing but a hoax.

www.snopes.com...

I wouldn't take snopes' word on what is a hoax and what is not. they have been proven to be less than honest.

Originally posted by svpwizard
reply to post by EnlightenUp

 

I'm with you ..... as far as I know YOU CAN"T do cash back on credit.... HOAX

Not true. It's called a cash advance. Readily available.

Originally posted by 5 oClock
Loss Prevention/Risk management at any mid to large retail outfit, would be all over this. It's sorta employee theft class 101 .

Do you work retail?

Loss prevention is about loss to the store, not to the customer. While they would obviously have an issue with this going on, it is not the job of loss prevention to protect the customer from monetary loss. It would have to be brought to their attention to get anything done about it.

Also, this type of thing would be VERY simple to pull of without anyone being any the wiser.

Originally posted by svpwizard
reply to post by EnlightenUp

 

I'm with you ..... as far as I know YOU CAN"T do cash back on credit.... HOAX

As another pointed out, you can do a cash advance but I have never once to my recollection been offered such a thing on a credit card purchase at a store, Wally Mart included-- only on a debit card and nearly every time on a debit card at that. I check my receipts before leaving the line. Cash advances can be done at an ATM or through one of the checks often sent in the mail, which I promptly shred anyway.

Originally posted by EnlightenUp

Originally posted by svpwizard
reply to post by EnlightenUp

 

I'm with you ..... as far as I know YOU CAN"T do cash back on credit.... HOAX

As another pointed out, you can do a cash advance but I have never once to my recollection been offered such a thing on a credit card purchase at a store, Wally Mart included-- only on a debit card and nearly every time on a debit card at that. I check my receipts before leaving the line. Cash advances can be done at an ATM or through one of the checks often sent in the mail, which I promptly shred anyway.

Cash advance can be done at any point of sale. however, retailers dont offer it too much because it costs them more to do the transaction than it does with a debit card.

The option to do it is available EVERY time, though.