Topic: The new Christmas scam

[kt.]

This was sent by our neighbourhood watch officer.  Might be worth watching out for;  we’ve had a lot of hoax scams recently, but this one is possibly credible.....

CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT
  I bought a bunch of stuff, over £150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags.  I saw a cash-back of £40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it. She said I'd have to take the £40 because she couldn't delete it. I told Her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it.. I said NO! Taking the £40 would be a cash advance against my Credit card & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance.   If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & re-scan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic pad before I signed & a cash-back of £20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. The cashier agreed that the Electronic Pad must be defective. 
Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad was defective because she NEVER offered me the £40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed? 

Just to alert everyone.  My co worker went to Milford , Sainsburys last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My co worker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for £20 cash back. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK! 

My co-worker called Sainsburys who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her this. This is a new scam going on. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in the queue. 

Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards!  This is NOT limited to Sainsburys; they are one of the largest retailers so they have the most incidents.
I am adding to this. My husband and I were in Sainsburys and paying with credit card when my husband went to sign the credit card signer he just happen to notice there was a £20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said this machine has been messing up and she canceled it. We really didn't think anything of it until we read this email. 

I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one???? 
To make matters worse ...THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION.   BEFORE LEAVING THE CHECK-OUT........  CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE LEAVING THE STAND.   I'VE SEEN PEOPLE DO JUST THAT. NOW I'LL START!

[Ellen K]

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/atm/cashback.asp

Probably a hoax email according to Snopes.

[ACE]

We have to sign for any cashback in sainsburys, so I suspect a hoax. But just to be on the safe side, we will check in future.

[djbrenton]

I've seen this with all sorts of retailers used as the story, Tesco amongst others. The same person must be very unlucky with their shopping. Notice the shopper apparently went to a Sainsburys in the same town that the American version of this email has as a WalMart (Milford DE). Another give away with these emails is that they tend to have too many americansims in them. Co-worker and cashier for example. I'd also ask when anyone last signed a 'credit card signer' in Sainsburys? 2004 maybe when this email first originated.

Any email which exhorts you to let all your friends know is a hoax. It's harmful as a geuine warning could be ignored due to all the nonsense ones like this. Of course you should check your receipts, we don't need a completely made up story to tell us that.

[betula]

Yes I have always had to sign too.

You are more likely to get caught out by one
their offers not appearing at the till end.I always check for that and
it has been worth checking.

[Chrispy]

Unless it has changed recently, you can only get cashback on debit cards, not credit cards which makes the

I said NO! Taking the £40 would be a cash advance against my Credit card & I wasn't paying interest on a cash advance.

nonsense.

[PurpleHeather]

I always check my receipts before leaving the stores. NOT because I am afraid of being scammed by being debited for cash back but because I have found, umpteen times that the special offers/discounts I think I have got have not been recognised by the store's system.

I hate the ATM machines too. What do you do if they pay you short? I never have been but years ago I recall a workmate saying they had.

[Melbourne12]

I've seen this with all sorts of retailers used as the story, Tesco amongst others. The same person must be very unlucky with their shopping. Notice the shopper apparently went to a Sainsburys in the same town that the American version of this email has as a WalMart (Milford DE). Another give away with these emails is that they tend to have too many americansims in them. Co-worker and cashier for example. I'd also ask when anyone last signed a 'credit card signer' in Sainsburys? 2004 maybe when this email first originated.

Any email which exhorts you to let all your friends know is a hoax. It's harmful as a geuine warning could be ignored due to all the nonsense ones like this. Of course you should check your receipts, we don't need a completely made up story to tell us that.

Good answer - this is an old chestnut.  There is indeed no Sainsbobs in any of the 10 Milfords in the UK.

The "credit card signer" refers to the electronic pad that many American stores use.  It captures your signature without the risks of fraud associated with paper copies.  They don't have the systems in place to validate credit and debit cards in real time as we do.

[betula]

The offers are strange too..slightly deviating but at Iceland I can buy 3 cans of dog food for £1.50 or 6 wrapped for £3.25. ::) ::) ::) ???

[Unwashed]

I trid to get cash bask the other day and I'd paid with my credit card rather than debit card and the cash back was declined because of the type of the card.  That might just be a peculiarity of Budgens, but it causes me to doubt the voracity of the story.

[asj]

This one has been doing the rounds for some years, but I suspect that it is pie-in-the-sky.  As Chrispy says cashback is not given on credit cards, only debit cards.  Also my experience is that stores ask you to initial their copy of the transaction to show that you have received the money.

[ACE]

Mrs Ace had £50 cashback taken once when I used her card. I told her I knew nothing about it ;)

[cornykev]

The O/H who works for the council has had a work E mail warning about this scam, I have had cashback years ago and had to sign for it, I don't see the point now as I draw my cash from the dit dot machines before I shop, I was shorted once from a machine, you just go back to the bank and they credit after investigating.   ;D ;D ;D