What would you have done?

support_bae

support_bae

support_bae

Gangster
Associate
Joined
10 Mar 2009
Posts
475
I work in supermarket checkout and I got this pakistani customer.
He only had two items, 2 x 500ml water (50p each but 3 for 90p) - I told him this but he wasn't interested -.

When it came to paying, he took out an AMEX and told me he only received the card today and the chip n pin may not be working yet so he asked if he could sign for it. He also asked for £50 cashback.

While waiting for the receipt to print, i looked at the front of the card and saw the issue date to be 03/09 and the name on it had the surname McArthur. Strange surname for an asian fellow eh...?

I forgot to tell him no cashback is given on credit cards so when I told him this after he signed for it, he said it was ok and then he couldn't get out the store quicker.

Now I'm 99% positive this guy has a stolen credit card and was trying to use it to withdraw money.

As it is an AMEX, I imagine it will have quite a high credit limit on it...

If you were in my situation what would you have done?
 
Well I've never worked in a supermarket before, have you been briefed on what to do if you think a card is stolen? It does sound pretty suspicious.
 
I would have waited til he was leaning on the counter to sign and then grabbed a nearby stapler and stapled his hand to the counter, then press the emergency call button under my counter and use the 2 bottles of water he had as makeshift waterjets to subdue him.
 
I thought AMEX were charge cards? But yeah, had I been suspicious I would have asked for some ID or similar (but I've not worked in a supermarket so don't know what you're trained to do)
 
Personally I wouldn't want to accuse someone unless I was pretty sure they were guilty. As someone working the till, you aren't in a very good position to do that.

I guess the only thing you can have done is once you spotted the British sounding surname on the card, you asked him what his surname was. If he looked at the card tjem you can be pretty confident its stolen. However anyone with half a brain cell would memorise the surname before trying to use it.

Edit

Completely forgot about signatures as no establishment seems to bother anymore. Perhaps you could have asked for a signature and taken it from there?
 
Last edited:
You couldn't have done anything. You're not allowed to accuse a customer of anything when you don't have proof. (even sometime when you do! - crazy world). A lot of shops now refuse to let you sign for something unless the card reader is physically broken. this was the case where i used to work. should have told him its pin or nothing. We had to do this (to the anger of a lot of customers)
 
You should have training on how to deal with this :(

Basically if you suspected something at the till should have called for your manager and put enough distance between yourself and the customer that you couldn't be grabbed or hit easily. Otherwise you should have informed your supervisor or manager immediatly after.
 
Also, did you accept the signature he provided for the bottles of water?

It is definately suspicious:

-Claims he hasn't got a pin yet, even though the card was issued 5 months ago
-Wants a large cashback amount
-The name McArthur does not "fit" the look of the guy.
 
Did you not get training on this? I would bet my testicles that its either stolen or one made in a fake name. Had the same kind of thing happen to me years ago before the advent of chip and pin. The guy went absolutely postal threatening me if I didn't give the card back. Fortunately, I had pushed the emergency call button as soon as it became clear this guy wasn't who he said he was.

He turned to walk away only to be confronted by two policemen who said I did the right thing. The both cards he had tried to pay with had the signature overwritten in felt marker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom