Fraud update from my store. Spill over into social media

[cycosis]

So who would you guys handle this?

Backstory: Had some fraudulent credit cards used by some dick heads to buy some gift cards at my store. Said gift cards went onto kijiji. We finally figured out what was going on after we got scammed for about $4500. Zeroed the rest of the Gift Cards involved. Filed police report.

Now one of those gift cards has turned up from an un suspecting person who bought it on kijiji. I informed the couple that the gift card they bought in a parking lot somewhere was fraudulent and the value was zero. They were understandably upset and I gave them all the case report information and constable contact info to include their portion in the case filing. But they lay the blame on me.

Who the fuck thinks a $1000 gift card purchased for $500 cash is legit???

Anyways, this showed up on our FB tonight. Respond? Delete?

Any feedback is appreciated.

"If you go there, NEVER trust the cashiers or the young guy who claims to be the owner. THERE IS NO SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS STORE. I bought a gift card from someone and before paying to him, we went together to the store and said the cashier that I want to buy this card, would you please check it for me? The cashier checked the gift card and said it is valid and contains $1000.00 of credit. I paid the guy, got the gift card, checked it again with the cashier and she assured me that the gift card is legit and contains $1000.00 and there will be no problem at all. Now, after a couple of weeks, I went to the store to buy a stroller for my yet-to-born boy, and after ten minutes of checking, a young guy came and claimed to be the owner, said that the BALANCE IS SET TO ZERO BY HIM, because the credit card used to buy the card at the first place had problems. He claimed that they have found the problem after one day, which was a lie, as we have talked to the woman who had the card on a Friday and bought it on Monday, at least three days later. Furthermore, he said that THEY DON'T HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY ABOUT THE CARD, EVEN THOUGH THEIR CASHIER HAS CONFIRMED THAT THE CARD IS LEGITIMATE, AND EVEN THOUGH THE CARD IS REALLY LEGITIMATE!!!! And if we are upset, we should go to police and file a complaint against them, which we surely will do. However, if you don't want headache, if you want a little bit of mutual responsibility, NEVER GO THERE. NEVER EVER EVER!!!"

[spikerS]

Personally, I would leave it up, and respond with the facts.

[revelations]

Respond, with a professional tone.

[rx7boi]

Does your team of staff not know what is going on about gift cards coming into the store as being potentially purchased by fraudulent credit cards?

Business would still carry on as usual, but I can see why this woman is upset.

I also don't know what the timeline is, but I'm guessing you guys were trying to figure out which GC's were purchased fraudulently before she verified in store?

Seems like you guys claimed you knew the problem from day 1, but there was a time lag in zero'ing the balances out immediately.

Not agreeing with either side, but sounds like she's pissed about a couple of things:

- If you guys had a handle on it from "day 1" as she quoted you saying, those GC's would have been zeroed out and unverifiable when she walked into store with scammer.

- Your staff gave her the OK and reassurance that the GC would be usable, to which again I wonder if your staff has been advised to exercise additional discretion during this difficult time.

[cycosis]

His timeline is mucked up. Ours is verified by purchase dates and zeroing dates/police report.

Thinking of responding as follows:

Pending proof of purchase of the gift card, we are more than willing to reimburse you for the full amount of the gift card to the original method of payment. This has been and will continue to be our gift card return policy.

[blitz]

Can you just say the gift card was purchased with a stolen credit card and is now a police matter? That would clear up the situation for anyone reading it. Maybe add that purchasing deeply discounted gift cards on kijiji is a risky venture?

[FixedGear]

IMO you should honor the GC and eat the cost. it might seem like you're losing money now, but it will pay off in the long run. Reliability and good service is invaluable. I only say this because my family has been in business for generations, and this is how they always deal with things like this.

[cycosis]

Theres no chance in heck I'm eating the cost on a $1000 GC

[FixedGear]

Fair enough, that's what I would do though. I don't know how long you've been in business, but a solid reputation pays off over the long term.

[FixedGear]

The GC is worth $1k, but your loss will be FAR lass than that, you should honor it and hope those folks spread word of mouth that will bring you more customers in the future

[JustinMCS]

Originally posted by blitz
Can you just say the gift card was purchased with a stolen credit card and is now a police matter? That would clear up the situation for anyone reading it. Maybe add that purchasing deeply discounted gift cards on kijiji is a risky venture?

x2.

But the fact that she went in to validate the card and the cashier said it was valid is the part I can understand why she is upset. She did her due diligence and got screwed.

[dannie]

Originally posted by JustinMCS


x2.

But the fact that she went in to validate the card and the cashier said it was valid is the part I can understand why she is upset. She did her due diligence and got screwed.

Supposedly. Nowhere does the OP say that the gift card check actually happened. My feelings on reviews are jaded though. OP you're fortunate that you have the ability to respond. For me, any response to reviews is a FOIP violation. So even though a staff member gets accused of drinking ale on the job (Canada Dry Gingerale - but the woman thinks it's beer) or an exam that never happened at our facility (verified completion at another office) I can't do a thing.

If I were in your shoes, I'd keep the response and respond professionally and with the facts. I'd then follow up with a Facebook post of your own indicating the fraud situation and advising the public that they should be aware of any gift cards out there that have not been validated.

[ga16i]

Originally posted by blitz
Can you just say the gift card was purchased with a stolen credit card and is now a police matter? That would clear up the situation for anyone reading it. Maybe add that purchasing deeply discounted gift cards on kijiji is a risky venture?

X3, the damage has already been done by this woman and no matter what you do from here on for her, it'll be shit in her eyes.

Similar to what someone mentioned, I would also say that just like event tickets, gift cards should be purchased from trusted authorized sources i.e., your store to ensure authenticity.

[loweg]

If respond in a professional manner, telling him/her to come visit you at said store. Explain publicly that the card was bought with a stolen credit card and that you have seen zero money from said purchase . Then explain how most people that bought the cards are just about to hav babies as we all know how this is a stressful time in peoples lives so you'd like to help them out with their purchases. Discount some of their product, you don't even have to lose money, but if they are having a kid, you could save them 500.00 on product on a decent size purchase (but I have no idea the margins you run). I know I for sure spent enough money at your store that 500.00 would have been nice.

Turn the whole thing into a positive. Gon on there after, and spam the shut outta te whole feel good story that you went out of your way and outta your pocket to help them and it will pay intangible dividends

Gl with situation

[black_2.5RS]

Give them the amount they paid $500. Make the customer whole. You will get the money back.

[A790]

Originally posted by cycosis
"If you go there, NEVER trust the cashiers or the young guy who claims to be the owner. THERE IS NO SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS STORE. I bought a gift card from someone and before paying to him, we went together to the store and said the cashier that I want to buy this card, would you please check it for me? The cashier checked the gift card and said it is valid and contains $1000.00 of credit. I paid the guy, got the gift card, checked it again with the cashier and she assured me that the gift card is legit and contains $1000.00 and there will be no problem at all. Now, after a couple of weeks, I went to the store to buy a stroller for my yet-to-born boy, and after ten minutes of checking, a young guy came and claimed to be the owner, said that the BALANCE IS SET TO ZERO BY HIM, because the credit card used to buy the card at the first place had problems. He claimed that they have found the problem after one day, which was a lie, as we have talked to the woman who had the card on a Friday and bought it on Monday, at least three days later. Furthermore, he said that THEY DON'T HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY ABOUT THE CARD, EVEN THOUGH THEIR CASHIER HAS CONFIRMED THAT THE CARD IS LEGITIMATE, AND EVEN THOUGH THE CARD IS REALLY LEGITIMATE!!!! And if we are upset, we should go to police and file a complaint against them, which we surely will do. However, if you don't want headache, if you want a little bit of mutual responsibility, NEVER GO THERE. NEVER EVER EVER!!!"

Dear [NAME],

First, I want to apologize for the situation you're in. I understand how frustrating it is to be robbed of your hard-earned money. In this situation, both you and I are the victims and I feel your pain directly.

The individual you purchased the gift card from has defrauded my store of over $4,000 with transactions just like the one you are now involved in. They used stolen credit cards to purchase gift cards, which they have since been selling on Kijiji (and other sources). We have reached out to the Police and left the investigation in their hands. That is why we provided you the Police information, including the contact information of the officers involved in the case. We were dismayed to find yet another victim of this fraudster.

Please understand that we are a small business and simply cannot afford to shoulder the burden of giving away thousands of dollars to scammers. That money doesn't come from a giant corporate bank account, it comes from the tables of myself and my staff.

I am sorry that you feel that others cannot trust our store despite knowing that we have essentially been robbed. We have worked hard to build a good reputation within Calgary's community by offering good products and great customer service. I hope that you understand the position that we are in: if we honour gift cards that were purchased with stolen credit cards, we are essentially enabling this process to continue and for others to be defrauded.

Kindly yours,

[NAME], [TITLE].



Or, something like that, I don't know. I've always believed that transparency is the best way to calm the crisis, especially on social media.

EDIT: It's pretty funny how many people seem to think that the OP should honour the GC. Are concerts obligated to let you in when you buy fake tickets? Do you think United Airlines would honour a ticket purchased with a stolen credit card? Give your head a shake.

These days, the backlash from social media for something like this will be a drop in the bucket and forgotten about tomorrow. The OP didn't do anything wrong. Stolen merchandise is stolen merchandise, and saying that the OP should honour the stolen gift card basically amounts to you saying that the OP deserves to be out even more money. Give your head a shake.

[blairtruck]

i buy discounted gift cards on kijiji all the time. never for 50% saving but i always check them in store and then use them immediately before anything can happen to the balance.

i usually arrive at store before the seller, get my item ready for purchase and use the card right away to assure value is there.

[AndyL]

Giving them a GC for the amount they're out won't help - perhaps a reward for helping the police with info leading to the arrest might work (could be recouped in a civil case later maybe?).

Dear valued customer, we are sorry you got scammed - we did too. We've enacted new policies and procedures on gift card purchases to try to prevent these occurances. In the future you can call ###-#### to verify legitimacy of a gift card and its balance before you purchase a card.

[A790]

Also, OP, make sure you post on your website/Facebook regarding stolen gift cards, how to protect yourself, etc.

[loweg]

Originally posted by A790

EDIT: It's pretty funny how many people seem to think that the OP should honour the GC. Are concerts obligated to let you in when you buy fake tickets? Do you think United Airlines would honour a ticket purchased with a stolen credit card? Give your head a shake.

These days, the backlash from social media for something like this will be a drop in the bucket and forgotten about tomorrow. The OP didn't do anything wrong. Stolen merchandise is stolen merchandise, and saying that the OP should honour the stolen gift card basically amounts to you saying that the OP deserves to be out even more money. Give your head a shake.

Didn't want him to give away 500.00. But for a customer that could very well have been heading in for bedroom set, mattress, stroller(s), car seat(s), and all that other crud I bought when having my first, could very well be able to knock 500 from the price and still make some money (again no idea on the margins in this industry). Retain a customer that you may have given a discount for quantity purchased.

And all on all 500.00 is pretty cheap in terms of advertising these days . Like I said spam the shit outta it on Facebook.