Maple Ridge – Ridge Meadows RCMP are investigating alleged fraud attempts and is advising stores and shop owners to be extra vigilant in monitoring their Point-Of-Sale (POS) devices.
On Thursday, August 9, Police received reports of 2 males attempting to complete a credit card refund scam. In this case one suspect makes a purchase and attempts to increase the original purchase amount on the POS terminal while a second suspect distracts the cashier. A short time later the original suspect returns to the store claiming they were overcharged and requests the difference be refunded.
On some occasions a child accompanies the male suspect. On other occasions the suspects are a male and female working together.
Police advise retailers of the following;
- Report all suspicious activity to police immediately
- Instruct staff to not leave the POS area until transactions are complete
- Watch and monitor all transactions as they are taking place
- Wait until transactions are completed before answering other questions or moving to other areas of the store
- Review all transactions for accuracy immediately upon sale completion
