Archived Your Weirdest Scam/Fraud Moment?

[JohnSith373]

As far as I know, you can purchase any gift card, other than visa/MC/Amex, with a target gift card. You can even purchase a target gift card with a target gift card. You just can’t purchase a visa/mc/Amex gift card with a target card. And you can’t purchase any kind of gift cards with a merch return card.

Those issues all pop up on the register and don’t allow you to proceed though so no reason for a TM to intervene. Unless maybe it’s related to the TM discount and they think you’re buying gift cards to get the discount off the purchase of other cards or something?

I know some gift cards allow the TM discount to Work (Xbox) while others don’t (iTunes). I was trying to use my Redcard on Wallet to purchase the Steam card. Maybe she thought I was using a digital Target gift card and maybe I look like I stole someone’s gift card. Either way, it’s better to do it at SCO because of the camera looking at your face.

 

[Dog]

A couple of days ago, we had a guest come through Guest Services to check out, and she had placed clearance stickers on top of the barcodes of pretty much all of her items. She had a couple hundred dollars worth of detergents/other cleaning supplies, beauty supplies, etc. and none of the DPCIs matched up, as the clearance stickers were for cheaper items like mouthwash and toothpaste. The TM ringing her out told her that we couldn't honor the clearance prices on the items, since /someone/ had switched the stickers, and they weren't actually the correct prices for those items, so she got upset and asked for a manager to be called over. So, the GSA on duty was called over, and since she didn't want to deal with the whole thing, she just honored the prices for all the items, and the guest got a ton of stuff for really cheap. Unfortunate that it went that way, imo.

 

[Leo47]

A couple of days ago, we had a guest come through Guest Services to check out, and she had placed clearance stickers on top of the barcodes of pretty much all of her items. She had a couple hundred dollars worth of detergents/other cleaning supplies, beauty supplies, etc. and none of the DPCIs matched up, as the clearance stickers were for cheaper items like mouthwash and toothpaste. The TM ringing her out told her that we couldn't honor the clearance prices on the items, since /someone/ had switched the stickers, and they weren't actually the correct prices for those items, so she got upset and asked for a manager to be called over. So, the GSA on duty was called over, and since she didn't want to deal with the whole thing, she just honored the prices for all the items, and the guest got a ton of stuff for really cheap. Unfortunate that it went that way, imo.

Ugh I hate when they just let them get away with stuff like that

 

[HRZone]

A couple of days ago, we had a guest come through Guest Services to check out, and she had placed clearance stickers on top of the barcodes of pretty much all of her items. She had a couple hundred dollars worth of detergents/other cleaning supplies, beauty supplies, etc. and none of the DPCIs matched up, as the clearance stickers were for cheaper items like mouthwash and toothpaste. The TM ringing her out told her that we couldn't honor the clearance prices on the items, since /someone/ had switched the stickers, and they weren't actually the correct prices for those items, so she got upset and asked for a manager to be called over. So, the GSA on duty was called over, and since she didn't want to deal with the whole thing, she just honored the prices for all the items, and the guest got a ton of stuff for really cheap. Unfortunate that it went that way, imo.

Report them to AP. Lol, any etl ap worth a darn will write them up.

 

[Dog]

Ugh I hate when they just let them get away with stuff like that

Yeah like I was honestly ready to just tell her that she wasn’t getting the clearance prices for any of the stuff but it wasn’t my judgement call

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Yeah like I was honestly ready to just tell her that she wasn’t getting the clearance prices for any of the stuff but it wasn’t my judgement call

I have no problem telling that. If they put up a fight then I call over the GSTL. Usually, they know they have been caught and leave the items.

 

[myDevice]

Safeway doesn't sell target gift cards AFAIK

I work at safeway and I can assure you that we sell target giftcards.

 

[RedCardBorn]

I just recently bought Steam gift cards with Target gift cards I've been saving up. That is perfectly fine.

Thats lucky, at my store we do not allow gift cards for ANY gift cards, usually its cause sketchy people do that most of the time, but every now and then we get a regular guest trying to do that and we just point out that on the back of the gift card it says may be used to purchase anything other than gift cards. So yeah, maybe its a store to store thing but at mine we do not allow it. I like how merchandise cards automatically don't allow it on any gift cards.

 

[redeye58]

Same at my store; had guests wanting to use Target gift cards to purchase SB gift cards last Christmas & it wouldn't allow it.

 

[Leo47]

I have a lot of people come up to guest service and return BAGS full of HBA items, all looked up on their card or on a gift card. Every person that does this seems very sketchy and i don’t know what the deal is with this because it’s something that happens often. Like they obviously purchased the items they’re not stolen, I don’t understand exactly what the scam is but I know something isn’t right

 

[redeye58]

No receipt? Card look-up?
Excessive use of coupons, especially if many of the items are duplicates.
They can be as low as $2 off for shampoo, $5 off for teeth-whitening kits, $10 off for electric shaver heads or Sonic toothbrush heads.
Return enough & you get a pretty tidy sum retained.
I had a lady return a sonic toothbrush (receipt present) with the UPC cut off the package so we got one from the floor to verify it fit the DPCI on the receipt.
She insisted on getting that receipt back so I circled the item in ink & notated that it had been returned on xx/xx date.
She nearly exploded; seems she was attempting a rebate & needed the UPC & original receipt.
She then asked if I would re-print the receipt.
I asked why? She'd returned it & no, it wasn't possible.

 

[Leo47]

So when you purchase something and use a coupon, the coupon doesn’t deduct from the return when you do a card look-up? Because yes, all multiples of the same items.

 

[GoodyNN]

So when you purchase something and use a coupon, the coupon doesn’t deduct from the return when you do a card look-up? Because yes, all multiples of the same items.

Sometimes, but not always.

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

So when you purchase something and use a coupon, the coupon doesn’t deduct from the return when you do a card look-up? Because yes, all multiples of the same items.

Correct. Target coupons do but manufactures don't. When you see a guest do this scan a few items, look confused and mention computer acting weird and partner with a GSTL or AP about how they want you to handle it. If the receipt is present always adjust down value manually if you see coupons.

If it's HBA on a Gift receipt I almost always partner with AP since its 99/100 times fraud

 

[Greenie]

Correct. Target coupons do but manufactures don't. When you see a guest do this scan a few items, look confused and mention computer acting weird and partner with a GSTL or AP about how they want you to handle it. If the receipt is present always adjust down value manually if you see coupons.

If it's HBA on a Gift receipt I almost always partner with AP since its 99/100 times fraud

You should never manually adjust down. That means Target is getting that coupon amount back from the manufacturer plus the coupon amount back from that adjusted purchase. The guest should receive the full price of the product before coupon.

From the policy:

If you used a manufacturer's coupon to purchase an item and decide to return that item, you'll receive a refund for the amount you paid for the item plus the amount of the coupon. The amount of the coupon may be refunded in the form of a Target GiftCard.

Likewise, you can limit coupon returns:

We have the right to refuse, or limit the use of any coupon and/or the subsequent return for any reason, including if guests' reoccurring behavior becomes disruptive or the items are deemed not to be for the purpose of using or gifting.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

So when you purchase something and use a coupon, the coupon doesn’t deduct from the return when you do a card look-up? Because yes, all multiples of the same items.

Exactly, that is why they do not have their receipt for the return because you would see all those coupons.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

No receipt? Card look-up?
Excessive use of coupons, especially if many of the items are duplicates.
They can be as low as $2 off for shampoo, $5 off for teeth-whitening kits, $10 off for electric shaver heads or Sonic toothbrush heads.
Return enough & you get a pretty tidy sum retained.
I had a lady return a sonic toothbrush (receipt present) with the UPC cut off the package so we got one from the floor to verify it fit the DPCI on the receipt.
She insisted on getting that receipt back so I circled the item in ink & notated that it had been returned on xx/xx date.
She nearly exploded; seems she was attempting a rebate & needed the UPC & original receipt.
She then asked if I would re-print the receipt.
I asked why? She'd returned it & no, it wasn't possible.

AAHHHH....this is a new one. Will have to do this if we have this happen.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Correct. Target coupons do but manufactures don't. When you see a guest do this scan a few items, look confused and mention computer acting weird and partner with a GSTL or AP about how they want you to handle it. If the receipt is present always adjust down value manually if you see coupons.

If it's HBA on a Gift receipt I almost always partner with AP since its 99/100 times fraud

Interested to find out what does your AP usually instruct you to do?

 

[Frontlanegirl]

You should never manually adjust down. That means Target is getting that coupon amount back from the manufacturer plus the coupon amount back from that adjusted purchase. The guest should receive the full price of the product before coupon.

From the policy:

If you used a manufacturer's coupon to purchase an item and decide to return that item, you'll receive a refund for the amount you paid for the item plus the amount of the coupon. The amount of the coupon may be refunded in the form of a Target GiftCard.

Likewise, you can limit coupon returns:

We have the right to refuse, or limit the use of any coupon and/or the subsequent return for any reason, including if guests' reoccurring behavior becomes disruptive or the items are deemed not to be for the purpose of using or gifting.

As far I know, there is not a way to put the amount onto a GC. And even if we did that, the guest would then cash out the GC and get the cash. Win for the guest.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Does anyone have any regulars who purchase quite a few GC's under the $10 amount and then cash them out right away?

 

[Leo47]

I had one girl do ID returns for Cat & Jack clothes that were all like $6. Tons of shirts. She had me do each shirt separately and put it on separate merchandise cards. Then after all the shirts were returned and she had all these merchandise cards all under $10 she then had me cash out all of them 😡

I had no clue we could cash out merchandise cards. Like it didn’t even cross my mind. I thought it was weird she wanted each shirt on a separate card, and obviously people who do ID returns like that stole the clothes so I was already like aware the situation was sketch, but man was I played lol. She was actually super nice the whole time I was processing it (it took a while obviously), but once she handed over the cards and then asked me to cash them out, and then I said “oh I don’t think we can do that” she immediately became super nasty and ghetto and started screaming “YES YOU CAN YES YOU CAN”, so I just did it thinking the POS would deny it from happening so I could prove her wrong, but no it let it happen so i just had to do it.

Long story short: why the fuck are merchandise cards allowed to be cashed out

 

[Greenie]

As far I know, there is not a way to put the amount onto a GC. And even if we did that, the guest would then cash out the GC and get the cash. Win for the guest.

The register prompts it. We've had it happen. I don't know what the threshold is to make it happen, but if does.

Same thing for missed coupons. Sometimes the register does cash. Sometimes a gift card.

 

[Bethy]

S

The register prompts it. We've had it happen. I don't know what the threshold is to make it happen, but if does.

Same thing for missed coupons. Sometimes the register does cash. Sometimes a gift card.

For ours I think it’s if the amount is under $5. If it’s sketchy (like @Leo47 guest), then I’d just do it as a merch return card.
I don’t know the protocol for cashing out merch return catds except that it wouldn’t work at my store.
However, if your POS is allowing it (but it’s obvioisly sketchy or ever makes you uncomfortable), then pretend that your POS froze or needs an override code. Apologize to the guest while you walkie for GSA or HL4 (or whatever your AP code is) or LOD.
Gotten a whole bunch of AP cred by playing dumb and discreetly summoning him

 

[HRZone]

Long story short: why the fuck are merchandise cards allowed to be cashed out

Depends on your state. Some require us to cash out gift cards under a certain amount.

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

We are instructed by ap to adjust down the value. Guest doesn’t get it back. If they really push we’ll do target GC.