Best Buy - worst luck. (1 Viewer)

[Alex-C]

From the local headlines....

Tim Bennett recently walked into a (local) Best Buy to buy a laptop computer.

"I wanted to utilize their 18-month, interest-free offer they had, which required me to apply for a Best Buy card," Bennett said.

To get no-interest financing, Bennett had to turn over another one his credit cards and a driver's license for verification. What he didn't know was that a 17-year-old Best Buy employee was making copies of all the information, according to authorities.

"It was a pretty sophisticated plan it sounds like," said Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Lou Fatur.

Within hours of Bennett applying for the credit card, Sacramento sheriff's investigators the 17-year-old was using Bennett's other credit card number to make illegal purchases of Best Buy equipment for three of his colleagues, according to authorities

Nice....

 

[Matt Butler]

I ty to avoid BB and CC like the plauge because I loathe their customer service.

Now I have another reason to loathe them.

Does the article say which store this was? Im in the Sacramento area so my curiosity is peaked.

 

[Leila Dougan]

This practice, unfortunately, happens more than we think. Most of the time you can see the employee handle your credit card but how about in restaurants? How many times have you handed your card to the server who promptly disappeared for five minutes? All that time, they could be writing down the numbers, expiration date, and "security code" off the back.

 

[Michael*K]

Don't paint Best Buy with such a broad brush. This sort of thing happens everywhere. I once had my card number lifted when I paid for gas at the pump. The cashier never saw me or my card, but he was able to see my card number on the transaction reports. The group he was involved with made duplicate credit cards using the lifted numbers and by the next day had maxed out my credit limit. I don't think because of that I should start a thread titled "BP Amoco Sucks" or something similar.

 

[Lee L]

Leila, some restaurant servers have actualy carried a palm pilot with a card reader and copied every card mag stripe they used during a shift, then sold the info or used it themselves to make fake cards.

 

[Leila Dougan]

Lee, unfortunately I believe it. I know this practice can happen anywhere, and does, so as long as these criminals are being appropriately punished I'm not going to necessarily hold it against the employers.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I know this practice can happen anywhere, and does, so as long as these criminals are being appropriately punished I'm not going to necessarily hold it against the employers.

Unfortunately, the criminals do not always get punished. In some cases, it is because the credit card company will not pursue the issue. My wife had some fraudulant charges on her Discover Card, including international telephone calls where Discover was able to determine the originator of the calls. However, they declined to pursue the matter because it would cost them more than just writing off the loss.

 

[Ted Lee]

Now I have another reason to loathe them.

good grief....

like michael said, it's not best buy's fault. this stuff happens all the time, everywhere. it's not really that sophisticated of a plan....trust me on that.

you wanna hear a good one?

i used to work at circuit city. one night, as the store was closing, three guys bum-rushed the manager as he was locking the gate. they came in, tied the closing employees up (about 5 people), then stole all the money.

one of the employees even got shot in the leg!

the kicker? the employee who got shot was in on the whole thing. he decided to get shot so that they wouldn't suspect him.

now *that's* sophisticated....