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Kmart shopper offers urgent warning over receipt scam

A Kmart customer has offered an important warning to others after falling victim to a receipt scam following a shopping trip to her local store.

Sharing the details of her “nasty experience” on a popular Facebook page, the Sydney woman said she was told to warn others by the Kmart Customer Service staff.

“On Thursday I purchased a number of items, including 5 boxes of coat hangers @ $10 per box. On the way out of the store, I showed the exit attendant my proof of purchase and threw the receipt into the trolley (where it stayed),” she wrote on the North Shore Mums Facebook page.

Shoppers leave a Kmart store in Sydney on Thursday. Source: AAP
This shopper discovered the importance of keeping your receipt after shopping in-store. Source: AAP

However, the woman decided to return the coat hangers totalling $50 after her husband purchased something similar. When she did, however, she received a shocking surprise.

“I realised I had no receipt when I returned to bring back the coat hangers, so went to customer service and showed the transaction on my Internet banking - which they matched on their computer,” she said.

“The Kmart refunds lady informed me that I had already returned all my purchases that day in the Bondi store turns out, somebody picked up my receipt - walked around Kmart collecting the same items, and then took them for a refund!”

The Sydney Kmart shopper's Facebook post about the
Sharing the details of her “nasty experience” on a popular Facebook page, the Sydney woman said she was told to warn others by the Kmart Customer Service staff. Source: Facebook

A lesson for shoppers

Fellow Kmart shoppers couldn’t believe her story saying they were ‘shocked’ at what some people will do.

“Wow what type of people think about doing this stuff?? I guess the lesson for everyone - Keep receipts and throw them out at home!” one person said.

“OMG!! Thanks for the heads up!! I either throw my receipt in the bin or just tell them at the counter to dispose of it but now it's better to get it home and then do what you have to!!” said another.

Others added that Kmart should reconsider the placement of the customer service desk, which in most stores is located at the back of the store.

Others warn: ‘This is a thing’

Although some were shocked by the sneaky scam, others said they’d encountered it before. But it’s not just carried out at Kmart – supermarkets are targeted too.

“This is a thing. There was someone doing this with groceries a while back,” one person said.

“Two people would go through the shops and fill the trolley with the exact same items. One would pay and get the receipt. The other would talk to staff and say they forgot their wallet in the car.

“They came back with the receipt for the trolley of groceries and voila - the receipt matched all the items in the trolley so off they went.”

“This has been happening for years,” said another.

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