Retail stores are a con artists dream. There are always new employees to test and hundreds of dollars to make. I’ve seen nearly every trick in the book while on the registers or at the customer service desk, and some of them are too crazy not to share! 

The Ticket Switch 

Ah, potentially the easiest to get away with on this list— considering the popularity of self checkout. This scheme involves taking a tag or a sticker off of a low priced item and slapping it on a higher priced item. The look on the face of the customer when you ask them why their PS4 is ringing up as a $1.75 pair of socks is always priceless. 

Generally employees will just confiscate the merchandise if they catch you, but if you manage to pull it off and get stopped at the door, you could be charged with the difference in theft! Although I once confiscated some headphones from a pair of kids who thought they were too slick to get caught, and the next day their mother paraded them into the store with her phone out recording my explanation for why my “racist ass” accused her children of shoplifting. Her video never turned into an exposè on the local news, like she said it would, and the horror on those kids faces while their mother foolishly chewed me out shows that embarrassment may just be worse than a shoplifting ticket!

Returns from the Floor

Full disclosure, this one has gotten me before. When I was just a green service desk employee, someone walked up and returned a vacuum. Eager to provide great customer service, I didn’t care they “lost” the receipt, I was happy to exchange their vacuum for a cart full of random stuff. When they left, loss prevention came right out and ripped me a new one.

One of my coworkers still roasts me for this because its just so damn obvious. Since that fateful day, I’ve called out quite a few of these crooks, and it is always great to see them set down their hopeful new return and scurry towards the door. 

Returning Used Merchandise

The oldest trick in the book, the one even the simplest con man thinks he can get away with. But if you plan on returning rocks in place of your new IPad, make sure you seal it up tight, because just about every service desk knows that you have to open it up before you process that return! 

Selling Fake Gift Cards

7AM one Saturday morning, I was opening up the doors to my store. While I walked around to get the exit door, I heard a voice say “psst, you shop at Amazon? I got you for 50 cents on the dollar,” like it was out of a cartoon. I politely told him to fuck off, and he went on his way, eager to share his investment opportunities with some wide-eyed, naive Prime member. 

Moral of the story: with the amount of unactivated gift cards retailers throw out and how easy it is to just pocket a stack, never buy gift cards off the street.    

Change Switcharoo

New cashiers be warned, this will happen to you. Slick talkers are always trying to pull some sleight of hand and confuse rookie cashiers. They may give you a $100 bill and ask for it back at the last minute, never giving actual change. It may seem easy to spot, but the mind numbing monotony of a cashier shift can knock anyone off their game if they don’t know what to watch out for. 

Crammers

Always look inside all bags and bins!! So many people slip merchandise inside other cavernous products. This one is so easy to spot on camera, so even if you miss it, chances are loss prevention has your back, but don’t you want the satisfaction of asking someone if they want the hundreds of dollars worth of products inside the suitcase they probably don’t even need? 

Stuffing merch in suitcases is pretty standard practice, but there are other ways to try to pull this one off. I once rang out a woman pushing a stroller, and while I was scanning her items, I noticed her baby start to pull out pairs of panties, tags still on, from underneath itself in the stroller! I gave her the look and asked if she planned on purchasing them. She said no, so I made her hand them over, one at a time. To this day, I believe there is no greater shame than handing over panties you attempted to steal using your baby while other shoppers look on horrified.

Dumpster Divers

I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered a return with a fake receipt, or if I did, I wasn’t savvy enough to notice. But I’ve ran into customers who have dug old receipts out of the trash more than you might think. If you pay in cash and throw away your receipt, there’s a chance that someone roots around the trash, finds your receipt, selects the same item you bought, and brings it up to the customer service desk to attempt a return. Although this is very easy to spot, it shows just how far some people are willing to go to make a quick buck! 

Air Mattress Rentals

I cannot even begin to count the number of scraps I’ve gotten into over our air mattress return policy. If you have friends in town, please just invest in an air mattress, don’t just buy one for one use it and return it the next day. I know this happens with other products, and I’m honestly fine with that. But a mattress? Come on, thats just gross! 

Coupon Fraud

Aren’t there enough coupons online and in the papers? The answer is no for some people. I’ve seen all sorts of fake coupons, ranging from those you could never discern to some that look like they were created on Microsoft Paint. Chances are, if it doesn’t scan through, it’s not real. But honestly, if you’re looking to save a few bucks, the front end manager will almost always give you the deal to get your argumentative ass out of the store. 

Skimmers

Thankfully, this is not an issue I’ve seen, but—like with ATMs and gas station pumps—people have been known to put credit card skimmers on retail card readers. In fact, credit card skimming accounts for up to 37% of all credit card fraud! Just make sure you’re cautious where you’re sticking your card, and you should be fine!