The solutions that involve editing the receipts don't make any sense, at least to me. When you do a return based on the receipt, you scan the receipts barcode or enter the receipt ID and VCD to pull it up in the system. Editing the paper receipts wouldn't edit what the system knows was on that sale, so what would that gain? Unless it's implied that the GSTL/LOD overrode the return amount to match the (fraudulently edited) receipt, but why would they do that without checking with AP/insidePOS first?
As
@commiecorvus said, all of this info can be found on other sites or the dark web so I'll just post this here.
When these people buy something at your store, the server in your store keeps the transaction until the end of the day, then submits it to the target POS network. No other store's POS servers know about that transaction on the same day. But, sometimes people do same day returns at different stores. If they have a receipt, target won't just deny it, the computer will ask for the information it doesn't know (price, tax rate, etc) from the receipt the GSTM has. If they (as others have mentioned) altered the receipt's prices, the computer will be none the wiser when the GSTM inputs the altered price, giving them back more money than they paid.
So, scammer goes to store A and buys a $50 chair. Scammer drives to store B, edits the receipt (IDK how, don't ask me) to say the chair cost $250, then goes and returns it. The GSTM gets the receipt and the item, and scans the receipt. Store B's POS server still hasn't heard from store A's server about the details of that transaction (price, tax rate) so it asks the GSTM for that information. The GSTM enters $250 as the price, and the system gives it back to them on a gift card.
The solution to all of this? Overhaul the POS system so all transactions post instantly to a central POS server, and can be looked up by any store's computer for returns instantly. Of course that would require money and effort, and things are working pretty well right now, so why change it? The registers are already broken enough, this isn't gonna be high on the priority list, if it's even there at all.
