Tis The Season To Be Scammy: Grocery Custy Attempts Return Fraud With EBT Card

A quick tale from the hallowed halls of retail...

A customer came in this afternoon, about 2:40, with two expensive pork loins.  She said that her husband bought them, and they were the wrong things.  A receipt?  Why no, I don't have a receipt!  The first time, the clerk at the desk (fellow RHUer Then Let Them Eat Crack) said nope, sorry, no receipt. 

She left and came back about 50 minutes later, and another clerk was at the desk.  TLTEC (he really needs a shorter handle, but whatever) had informed new clerk and myself about the woman just in case she came back.  Therefore new clerk calls me.

"Yeah my husband bought these and they were the wrong thing."

"Oh yeah?  When did he get them?"

"This morning.  He works third shift and they were in the refrigerator when I got up."

"Ok, let me check something."  I went to get an RF gun.  For those who don't know, the RF gun has a handy little feature that tells you how many of an item has been sold in previous days.  I scanned one of the loins, and lo and behold, there was a big fat zero in today's column.

"Well, we haven't sold any today."

"It might have been late yesterday..."

How many did we sell yesterday?  Again, none. 

"No ma'am, we haven't sold any of these for the past two days."  These items are store brand, and the next closest stores are 30 minutes away, so at this point I'm not doubting that they came from here, but I am certain that they weren't bought here.

"So I'm just stuck with them?"  - points at RF - "That's wrong!", she says, as she exits stage right.  My RF is never wrong... is it?

My confidence in the RF was shaken about a half hour later when desk clerk pages me to say that she came back with a receipt, from about 2:00.  Ok, so, glitch in the system?  If they were bought at 2 am they should have showed up...  But wait!  She didn't say AM.  I called and asked again what time it was.  They were purchased at 2:29 PM.  Ten minutes before she showed up at the desk the first time, claiming her husband bought them in the wee hours.  60 minutes before she handed me the same spiel.  I realized then why she was so confident that they had been purchased - she had just done it!

But wait again! What benefit would it be to her to buy something and return it without a receipt.  Because she bought it with... you guessed it... her EBT card.  The desk clerk surprised her with that tidbit, when she said she would refund it to her EBT card.

"Well, how do you know I used my EBT card?"

"Because it says so on your receipt."

"Can't you put it on a gift card?"

"Nooooope."  (Ok, I added the emphasis, I admit it.)

Nice try, and it might have worked, but for two factors that just happened to work in my favor.  I had the RF to tell me that we hadn't sold any, and, by a stroke of luck that worked out in the end, she had bought them so recently that that system had not updated and therefore did not show the movement.

She told the desk clerk when she came back with her receipt that I owed her an apology, she was not a thief.  Nope, she's not a thief, just a fraudster.  And I hope she comes in to get that apology.

Stay classy, RHU!

--Riferous

 

Comments

[Soft Ice Girl]

Sorry, but I don´t understand. What is an EBT card and what would she have won if she had returned these pork loins?
Plus: If I ever bought something and it turned out to be the wrong item, I discovered that fact within an hour, so I returned it within, an hour, too. Never had any problems besides being laughed at for my lack of attention to what I´m buying. So why did she even start to lie that she bought it earlier?

[Riferous]

An EBT card is the modern food stamps. You can only buy food with them, so the assumption is that she wanted to buy cigarettes or alcohol with that money, which is fraud. She lied about who and when the pork loins were bought so we wouldn't question why she didn't have a receipt.

[LadyBelle]

That's why Hellmart won't return food without a receipt, at most they will exchange it for the same item. A store can loose EBT or WIC rights if they are caught assisting in a scam like this.

[chris]

EBT = Electronic Benefits Transfer

She was trying to exchange welfare money for cash.

[Drug Store Diva]

We get people trying to return their WIC items for cash all the time, however anything that is WIC approved cannot be returned without a receipt because WIC checks cannot be converted to cash.

Thankfully my managers pretty much know which custys use EBT and WIC so they basically flat out refuse returns without a receipt.

[many bells down]

I was in the store last week with a giant cartful of food - replacing every damn thing in my fridge after we lost power for 5 days. A young couple with a stroller came up and asked if they could pay for my food with their EBT because they needed cash.

Now I have never used EBT, but I was pretty sure that's not legal. Also I had $200 worth of food in my cart, and I certainly didn't have that sort of cash on me.

I tried to tell the cashier about it when I got to the register, because I saw them soliciting other people in the store, but she didn't understand me and just kept saying I wasn't allowed to do that. I'm not trying to do it! I'm trying to tell you that these people are pestering your customers!

[NC Tony]

I'd love to hear that apology, "I'm sorry I didn't let you scam us out of money. Have a nice day."

[Chicajojobe]

EBT is also called foodstamps. It's a welfare card that can be used to buy food.

This lady didn't just buy the wrong thing. If you bought the wrong thing, realized 10 minutes later, returned to the store, and found that you had also lost your receipt. What would you do?
You do go back and be like "Hey, I bought these just a few minutes ago and realized they weren't what I needed. And I feel like such a ditz, but I can't find my receipt! I bought it at register 8. The guy with the black hair and the 'I Love Mom' tattoo rang me up. Maybe he remembers?"
You wouldn't lie about your husband buying them earlier in the day!

Her plan all along was probably to buy an expensive food item and return it for cash. Or, since she was willing to take a gift card, spend the money on something she isn't allowed to buy with EBT like booze or cigarettes.

[Humor_Me]

Just so you know, your RFT guns can be wrong. I was looking for vanilla ice cream in the freezer and it hadn't been for about 2 weeks. When I caught the guy filling the freezer, I asked if he had any of the big tubs of vanilla ice cream. I figured I'd finally caught up with it. Nope. None there. It turns out the ice cream had been shifted around and hadn't been scanned in because there was chocolate and vanilla swirl taking up the space. Someone was getting sloppy and just scanning by sight. He adjusted the order and told me he would actually call me the next time it came in. I thanked him profusely. I'd rather add my own guilt (toppings), thank you!

[No]

When you need papergoods like tampons, toliet paper you need cash and an ebt card doesn't allow papergoods to be purchased!! Hence help an EBTer with
a scan something of like price for a much needed paper item or gas money wow!! $8.00 is a good low number Yes Fraudsters... people just trying to survive