Responsibility of gift card scams

[PuppyLove]

My friend recently bought a $200 gift card at the Shoppers Drug Mart in the lower mission on Lakeshore. After loading the card, he discovered it had a balance of $0 and noticed there was a bar code sticker over the original bar code. Thieves place fake bar codes over the real ones and wait for people to load the card, which transfers the money to the scammer's card.

Shoppers Drug Mart said it was not their responsibility and after hours on the phone and in person with various customer service reps, his only option was to report the scam to the police. He was out of pocket for the $200.

He has the receipt, original card, and the fake bar code. Should Shoppers honour the mistake? Or is it buyer beware?

[alanjh595]

My friend recently bought a $200 gift card at the Shoppers Drug Mart in the lower mission on Lakeshore. After loading the card, he discovered it had a balance of $0 and noticed there was a bar code sticker over the original bar code. Thieves place fake bar codes over the real ones and wait for people to load the card, which transfers the money to the scammer's card.

Shoppers Drug Mart said it was not their responsibility and after hours on the phone and in person with various customer service reps, his only option was to report the scam to the police. He was out of pocket for the $200.

He has the receipt, original card, and the fake bar code. Should Shoppers honour the mistake? Or is it buyer beware?

I think it should be a 50/50 share of responsibility.
The RCMP fraud department will only get involved if someone has lost some money (In this case, they have) Shoppers should accept responsibility for the loss as well. Shoppers should return the $$$ to the customer and they should file a fraud complaint to the RCMP.
The cards should be in a locked case and verified before selling them to their customers. (They do lock up razor blades to protect themselves from theft after all).
How much business would they potentially lose if it became well know that they were selling a product that was supporting North Korean/Russian war efforts?

[GordonH]

It’s an old saying “Buyer be-aware”.

This has been on the news numerous times recently.

[Urban Cowboy]

Shoppers should honor the mistake since the card was altered while in their possession. That's my opinion since basically the theft has been perpetrated on their premises.

Might be time surveillance cameras were aimed at the card racks to catch the crooks.

[alanjh595]

Shoppers should honor the mistake since the card was altered while in their possession. That's my opinion since basically the theft has been perpetrated on their premises.

Might be time surveillance cameras were aimed at the card racks to catch the crooks.

We don't know if the "re-labeling" happened on or off premises. They could have been altered before delivery to the store. How hard would it be for a crook to remove 10 cards from the display, walk away and put them back with altered cards?

[Bsuds]

This is why we will not be buying any gift cards this year.

My opinion is they were sold a fraudulent card and Shoppers should be on the hook for it.

After all they are the ones who don't keep the cards in a safe place where they can't be tampered with.

[GordonH]

This is why we will not be buying any gift cards this year.

My opinion is they were sold a fraudulent card and Shoppers should be on the hook for it.

After all they are the ones who don't keep the cards in a safe place where they can't be tampered with.

The scammers place their barcode over top of barcode on the gift card, just peal off theirs. Then point out to cashier what you found.

easy-peasy

I send gift card to my nephews and nieces directly from Amazon.

[Bsuds]

The scammers place their barcode over top of barcode on the gift card, just peal off theirs. Then point out to cashier what you found.

The cashiers should be on the lookout for the fake barcodes for the Customers who are not aware that this is a thing.

[alanjh595]

This is why we will not be buying any gift cards this year.

My opinion is they were sold a fraudulent card and Shoppers should be on the hook for it.

After all they are the ones who don't keep the cards in a safe place where they can't be tampered with.

The scammers place their barcode over top of barcode on the gift card, just peal off theirs. Then point out to cashier what you found.

easy-peasy

I send gift card to my nephews and nieces directly from Amazon.

People depend upon their faith of the same suppliers of their medications that could be saving their life.
How could someone have faith in their pharmacist and the medications that they distribute if they can't extend that same trust to everything else in their store?

If I was ripped off on a gift card, how can I feel that the pharmacist is giving the correct or fraudulent heart meds?

[GordonH]

The scammers place their barcode over top of barcode on the gift card, just peal off theirs. Then point out to cashier what you found.

The cashiers should be on the lookout for the fake barcodes for the Customers who are not aware that this is a thing.

This needs to start with management of the store.

[Bsuds]

This needs to start with management of the store.

And the Head Office.

[Urban Cowboy]

This needs to start with management of the store.

And the Head Office.

If it's such a problem it's up to the vendor to address it, one obvious way being to keep the cards locked up by the checkout.

The other being for the cashiers to look at the cards and see if there's a fake bar code attached. Wouldn't take long to train them what to be on the watch for.

[Hmmm]

. Wouldn't take long to train them what to be on the watch for.

YES IT WOULD TAKE LONG..... It took forever and never did happen they check signatures on credit cards in most stores... They will never check bar codes on a regular basis... But the store 100% should be responsible as the management knows of this scam and its up to them to try to train their cashiers to look out for it.

[Urban Cowboy]

. Wouldn't take long to train them what to be on the watch for.

YES IT WOULD TAKE LONG..... It took forever and never did happen they check signatures on credit cards in most stores... They will never check bar codes on a regular basis... But the store 100% should be responsible as the management knows of this scam and its up to them to try to train their cashiers to look out for it.

How long could it possibly take to train someone to be on the watch for a sticker over the bar code?

They are selling the product so it's on them to ensure it's legit and their customers aren't getting ripped off.

I would think that they should also be able to scan the purchased card, to ensure it is worth what was paid, before the customer even leaves the store.

[GordonH]

. Wouldn't take long to train them what to be on the watch for.

YES IT WOULD TAKE LONG..... It took forever and never did happen they check signatures on credit cards in most stores... They will never check bar codes on a regular basis... But the store 100% should be responsible as the management knows of this scam and its up to them to try to train their cashiers to look out for it.

There is way were no one needs to be worried.
Replace everything on the display with blanks, have the real ones locked at customer service. Customer picks the blank they want to purchase, go to customer service and purchase the real one.

Just a thought