A Family Reflection On Return Fraud

As a parent you enjoy telling stories that are interesting or funny from work experiences to your family. Now I know my children listened to some of my shoplifter stories and there were also times they would be in the store and see me stop shoplifters. I would also tell them about someone who tried to return something that I suspected was stolen. So they had a sense of what happened in the retail world and I would later explain how some people do stupid things and sometimes people were just outright dishonest. My children are older now and working themselves. Our two sons work in the grocery store business and our daughter works in a clothing retail store. All have had the shared experience of seeing someone stealing or trying to short changes them at the register. I get a kick out of hearing their encounters. It is also fun for me to hear my daughter come home from work and tell her stories of people attempting to commit return fraud at her place of business. Since she often works at the customer service desk, she gets to experience the joys of the customers trying to return merchandise that clearly does not match a receipt or has been re-ticketed. I listen as she tells us about a customer who has brought back merchandise that belongs to another retailer but has a receipt from her store and none of the items match. Then there are the stories of the tags that are on merchandise but do not match the clothing being returned. She tells the stories of clothing being returned that smells of odors like it was worn or had cigarette smoke on it. I just nod and smile, thinking back on my experiences and knowing I told her the same type of stories when she was younger. Of course, I share some bits of wisdom on what else she can look for from those attempting return fraud, but what I want to tell her is that much of the return fraud she is telling me about could be prevented if her store used Alpha Shark Tags. 

I mentioned that some of the merchandise my daughter has people trying to return has odors. These types of returns are often the result of wardrobing, a return fraud that takes place when someone buys clothing, wears it out once or twice and returns it. The tags are often left on the clothes and taped up or carefully taken off and replaced after the item is worn. Alpha Shark Tags can prevent this type of return fraud because they are brightly colored and stand out so they are obvious to anyone looking at the garment. There is no removing them and replacing them because they are a one-time use device.The customer is required to cut the tag off after they leave the store if they want to wear it. The store ensures that they enforce a no return policy if the garment does not have an intact tag on it. Someone who is in the habit of wardrobing is unable to wear an item with an Alpha Shark Tag because it will be obvious they intend to return it and have not bought it for that special night out.  

I also pointed out that my daughter has had people attempt to refund merchandise with tags from her store, but the items came from another retailer. Alpha Shark Tags would help her be able to readily point out to the customer that the merchandise being returned does not have tag on it and therefore could not have come from her store. If the customer were insistent she could let them know that if it did come from their store, the Alpha Shark Tags were removed and can no longer be returned.

My daughter is not in a position where she can influence her employer to utilize tags that would prevent wardrobing and other types of return fraud. However, if you are a business owner or manager you may be in a situation where you can make that decision. Return fraud hits a store’s profit margin. Stop the needless expense to your business. Find out more about how to prevent return fraud.

For more information about return fraud, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547