Desperate people do desperate things.
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Friday, January 14, 2011
Woman Arrested At Fruitland WalMart For An Interesting Scam
Desperate people do desperate things.
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28 comments:
That's really clever.
if they are JUST NOW catching on to this ruse then they are woefully behind the curve. People have been doing this at the two walmarts in town for YEARS.
If fact she was doing the scam a bit wrong- had she done it correctly she would never been caught...
Desperate times. Governments needs to refocus on jobs.
Perhaps if you are on unemployment, disability or have a "freedom" card & busted for theft, robbery....your government funding dries up for 90 days.
If this lady was hungry and desperate, it is just plain sad. It is a sign of the times with the unemployment like it is.
Imagine how long shes been doing this for, and is just now getting caught.
Pretty common ploy, used for years.
Find the receipt, have or find a WalMart bag (like they're not hanging off every tree branch), walk in and put the item in the bag with the receipt and hope that the cameras aren't trained on that aisle and that the employees are elsewhere.
Rumor has it that future receipts will bear the last 4 of a social security number or driver's license, and that everybody will have to come up with I.D. to purchase items over $10. The person returning the item will have to have I.D., too.
It used to be, before megastores, that merchants knew you by name and face, and that stuff like this was almost non-existent - only the out-of-towners would try it. I miss those days.
Quote: Anonymous 5:56 PM said...
If this lady was hungry and desperate, it is just plain sad. It is a sign of the times with the unemployment like it is.
Comment: My money would be on that she's just an everyday thief. If she stood anywhere near a walmart or food store entrance, telling people as they went by, that she was hungry, had little money and asked if they could buy her something, she would go home loaded down with food, I'm positive! People in our country, are NOT heartless, they have compassion and empathy for those that they see in need and will help in anyway they feel they can afford to help. Nope, I believe she's just an everyday thief.
Yeah, this stuff happens all the time in retail. I manage a store in the area and we have to regularly take a spray bottle with water and red food coloring and spray our trash cans so that any receipt that has been discarded turns red. That seems to help a little.
Call me naive, but I had never heard of this ploy until now, despite the assertion that it's been used for years. So now, I wonder how many peoplehave just learned something new that they'll want to try.
Stores may be better off putting trash containers near the door greeter and the greeter can monitor the trash cans, I can remember when fast food places would have trash containers at the exits but those days are gone maybe its time to take away the trash containers at stores.
5:53 - that's an excellent idea.
5:53, that goes for drug deals as well! Sorry but nothing sickens me more than seeing someone pull out wads a cash for their non food items and then paying with foodstamps. I think once they are busted for the sale or use we should take away all public assistance.
Granted I lived in NY an not sure how the system works here but my husband had to quit his job when our kids were small, he had cancer. I was making 6.25 an hour and we were on public assistance. However we (children included) could only be on it for 5 years in our lifetime. So it kills me to see things like this and those we see at the grocery store daily.
Anonymous said...
If this lady was hungry and desperate, it is just plain sad. It is a sign of the times with the unemployment like it is.
5:56 PM
If she was hungry and desperate she should have gotten a job at the McDonalds in the same parking lot. I am sick and tired of you bleeding heart liberals.
Wwalmart and Sam's are usually more concerned about checking the receipts of the honest people who paid than the dishonst returning with an empty bag and someone elses' receipt that they dropped after making it through the second check on the way out the door.
desperate people? try stupid people do stupid things!
5:56
I say just lazy...even in this economy there is work to be found. Mosat people don't want ot work or consider the work to be beneath them or pays less than they are "worth". I have a masters degree and have worked in upper management positions as well as minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. There is no excuse for stealing!
Guess I just learned something new too. Don't count on the greeter to monitor trash cans when they hardly ever greet or get you a cart. In the beginning of Walmart, your cart was waiting when you got inside the door -- haven't seen that happen lately. I'm usually lucky to get a nod, much less, "welcome to Walmart". You can also bet the scammer didn't have a job and it's not related to the economy; it's related to "let the governmnt take care of me." She just wanted a little extra spending money for drugs, etc. Now that I've vented on that, I'll start preparing to pack my lunch and go to work which I've been doing for 44 years.
sometimes even with a job one can be hungry and desperate. Sometimes even with 2 jobs.
They have been doing this for quite some time, just like the other poster said, most likely they are a career shoplifter. They're is a way to catch them trying this which I will not disclose. Me and my associates love catching them in the act. They're were 2 women who would bring in their 5 kids with them to act as lookouts,we finally caught them. What a shame getting your kids to help you commit a crime. I could go on and on with the stories, just about all of them have criminal backgrounds. .
Response tp Anon 10:23 PM said: Nothing sickens me more than seeing someone pull out wads a cash for their non food items and then paying with foodstamps.
Comment: In the early 90's there were some tough times for me. I'd have to count my money before going to the food store, put off paying bulls, do without. I remember a day in the check out line a well dressed white lady in a nice fur coat, was ahead of me. The food in her cart was the quality and abundance that I could not, and wouldn't try to afford if I could. She paid for it all with food stanps and walked out. I paid for my few pieces of food and walked out to my old grey gas sucking van, only to see this lady loading up her groceries in a really nice Cadillac. I never forgot that, in all these years. That's whats wrong with the system. I could have easily been on assistance those years because others that had higher incomes then myself were. For me it was never a thought. I've never been a free lunch guy because I've always known that there is no such things, somebodies always footing the bill.
I was leaving the parking lot when this went down. She by no means looked desperate. Nice car, well dressed...it takes all kinds.
I am sick and tired of you bleeding heart liberals.
Anon 10:26 PM
I bet you don't know the definition of bleeding heart or liberal. Just keep spitting on the same old stuff as everyone else. What a tool.
I remember when my second job was at a grocery store; after working all day I'd come in at 530 and most of the customers were using the Independence card, but dressed so well and hair and nails done, it was hard to swallow. 7:57 you are so right, there is no free lunch, someone, somewhere is paying. but the recipients feel so entitled, they don't think beyond themselves.
I say steal all you can from WalMart!!!!
Maybe if places like McDonalds and WalMart paid their workers a living wage with benefits less people would have to resort to stealing.
There are a number of way to undermine a store's security system that go FAR beyond being clever and going unnoticed.
Really good lifters will have had a contact on the inside provide them with details about cameras, or even a set of store keys/fob's.
I worked at a box store for several years and would watch people steal thousands of dollars worth of merch with little effort. My associates and I would never stop them because we were treated like second class citizens at work.
I worked at a big box store too, and we were paid crap, but we were very proactive in trying to stop shoplifters. Several coworkers who saw suspicious behavior would follow the subject or call to the departments where the person was headed or call management or security. We would watch them steal and walk out the store and then laugh as security nailed them. Why did we do this? We got a bonus. How it worked was if our "shrink" numbers were below a certain percent when we completed inventory, we got a bonus check, separate from our paycheck. Nothing felt better than finding out we came out of inventory under shrink numbers and finding out we were getting a nice unexpected bonus.
I love those parents who open packages of cookies, candies, etc that is in their order and give to their kids in the carts to eat while they are shopping - and never pay for them. I have found half eaten foods stuffed back on the shelves and the parents actually could care less. Probably alot of those are on the food stamp program and believe me, when I am behind one of them in line at the checkout, it drives me crazy to see all the good food they have in their order and I am barely getting by with my small order of only the necessities to survive.
Anon 1:52 As a employee of Walmart I can tell you first hand our pay and benefits are very comprable to many of the top jobs in the area. Regarding McDonalds you could be right. Each Walmart is accountable for spoilage and theft. Walmarts are sucessful due to inventory turns. Theft can destroy any retail business. I worked as a manager for a local grocery store for 20 year. Unfortunately they left the salisbury area. Our profit margin hovered between 1 to 2 percent of sales. Again theft and spoilage could put us out of business.
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