Coles staff rescue woman from costly scam
The quick-thinking actions of a Coles employee and manager has saved a customer from losing hundreds in a sophisticated gift card scam.
The Perth shopper shared the story on Twitter, recounting that she was attempting to buy $700 worth of gift cards at Coles when she was intercepted by two staff members.
The customer was asked to buy the gift cards by someone impersonating her boss.
It wasn’t until she spoke to Coes staff that she realised she was the “victim of a scam”.
“Someone impersonated my CEO and told me to purchase $700 worth of gift cards,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Luckily I was stopped by the friendly staff member and store manager of Coles and was handed the #ScamAlert leaflet. I’ve reported this to @CyberGovAU.”
The Coles leaflet alerts shoppers to the dangers of the scam described on Facebook as the gift card “boss scam”.
“Are you being scammed? Have you been told to buy gift cards to pay a ‘debt’ or emailed to buy them as ‘staff rewards’?” the leaflet reads.
“The Australian government and legitimate businesses will NEVER demand payment with iTunes, Google Play, Steam or other gift cards and the email is not really from your boss.
“Please do not provide the card numbers to the caller.”
The leaflet encourages anyone suspecting they are a victim of a scam to contact a Coles manager, the police, or Scam Watch.
A Coles spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au that the supermarket had seen a spike in gift card scams recently.
“Coles has seen an increase in gift card scams reported to Coles Customer Care, including instances where customers have been pressured into bulk purchasing iTunes gift cards or other gift cards to pay fake debts or fines,” the spokesperson said.
“We have introduced a notification at the checkout that activates after five gift cards are scanned as a warning to customers bulk purchasing.”
The supermarket has also trained their staff to look for customers spending significant amounts of money on gift cards and notify the store manager or ask the customer if they knew about the scams.
“Coles has also added an ongoing message onto our in-store Coles Radio as further awareness to customers about potential gift card scams.”