OT Is this a scam?

Since Christmas I have seen two ads on craigslist for somebody wanting to buy the receipts for what you got for Christmas. Why would anybody want to buy a little piece of paper, besides maybe to shoplift an item and return it with your receipt for cash?
Craigslist

Either that, or maybe to return-for-cash items they stole, or maybe just to see what's brand new in your house! Who knows with scammers anymore. In any case, I can't figure any reason that it might be on the level.

Probably exactly what they are doing and probably some other crooked stuff as well

I think the fact that he will pay DOUBEL for cash receipts pretty much tell you what he is doing. Returning for cash is my bet. No dollar store , they have strict return policies .

If it smells bad it probably is.

A few years ago I was in my local NAPA. At the time they were having guys picking up receipts for items dropped outside the store. They would then shoplift those items from one store and return them to another. Most likely the same kind of thing going here.

Got me curious what he is up to, though I'm sure it is no good!

I tried searching "Why would someone want to buy receipts", didn't turn up much.

Then I came across a charming web site that offered to supply counterfeit receipts for anything, anywhere for $39.95.

Looked through their FAQ section, found "Things you should NOT use counterfeit receipts for" section. This was their NOT to do list:

False receipts for insurance fraud
Fake receipts for eBay sales - like here - they create false Tiffany's receipts so you can pretend fake jewellery is real or here Fake Versace Bag Being Sold With Receipt
False claims -Hustling like on the BBC
Claim false extras on your expense account - create false Diesel Receipts, create false petrol receipts, false VAT and tax reclamation receipts.
Overclaim your expense account
Reclaiming taxes, and expense in China Bogus Receipts & Fake Invoices
When purchasing expensive items overseas, such as jewellery and electronic equipment, you could use a false receipt purporting to show a purchase price lower than that actually paid as a means of reducing the Customs charges payable.

So, I don't know what he is up to, but don't think we will be doing business!

Dang Steve, you really know a lot about this kinda stuff. :wink: *lol*

google is your friend.

Its a HUGE scam here in Charleston..
They buy or find receipts.. go in the store, pick up the hi ticket item {YOU HAD PURCHASED} off the shelf & take it right to the customer service desk for a CASH RETURN w/ YOUR RECEIPT..
I've watched them sit outside a Walmart store & WAIT on people coming out of the store w/ big flat screens or computers & offer them 100.00 for their little piece of paper..
Get it & walk back in the store & walk out w/ 1000.00 CASH.. for a 50.00 - 100.00 investment..

A receipt after the sale has NO VALUE in any LEGAL sense to any third party. A receipt is your proof of purchase. How can it possibly have any value to an outsider? Legal, that is. This has scam written all over it!

(quoted from post at 05:06:20 12/29/17) Its a HUGE scam here in Charleston..
They buy or find receipts.. go in the store, pick up the hi ticket item {YOU HAD PURCHASED} off the shelf & take it right to the customer service desk for a CASH RETURN w/ YOUR RECEIPT..
I've watched them sit outside a Walmart store & WAIT on people coming out of the store w/ big flat screens or computers & offer them 100.00 for their little piece of paper..
Get it & walk back in the store & walk out w/ 1000.00 CASH.. for a 50.00 - 100.00 investment..

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If they bought a receipt from someone who paid with credit card (which is very, very likely at walmart). The store would not give cash back. It would be credited back on the credit card it was charged on. The only way they could get cash is if the person they bought the receipt from paid cash. Maybe they get in-store credit... BUT, whenever I have returned something (which is very seldom), the store asks for and scans my ID. If the person does this more than a few times, they'd start getting attention from the store for it. Now they'd have to keep cycling multiple fake or stolen IDs in order to not get caught. Sounds like a pretty involved scam for the typical petty criminal.

It's amazing how many people on here claim they PERSONALLY saw something underhanded going on. Did you call the authorities or the store to make them aware of the illegal activities you witnessed?

(quoted from post at 06:25:14 12/29/17) A receipt after the sale has NO VALUE in any LEGAL sense to any third party. A receipt is your proof of purchase. How can it possibly have any value to an outsider? Legal, that is. This has scam written all over it!

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I had kinda thought what Steve said in his first "reason", but the thought never matured. However, I'm betting that is the reason; someone wanting to get receipts for items they got for Christmas that were stolen. Heck, those little slips of paper would be a lot handier for some scammer than the items themselves!

....Sometimes people really tick me off!!

...And for anyone who might ask, "[i:c1e67d327f]Can't the police do anything?[/i:c1e67d327f]" Well, all the person would have to do is say they didn't place the ad; that someone must be playing a joke on them! ARG!!

It is a major scam. I used to service stores and grocery stores. That scam always comes up this time of year. Ignore it.

Puzzling for sure. Pretty tough to go into a store with someone else's refrigerator receipt, pick it up and take it to the returns counter with the paperwork, certainly a puzzling post. Small items much easier of course. Below is a link to several kinds of scams involving receipts, etc .......
Receipt Scams

Pumper ....... man, you must have a lot of time on your hands to wait around and see this actually happening in the parking lot. How long would you wait if nothing went down, a half hour, an hour? I can see someone picking up a thrown away receipt but walking up to someone and paying cash for their receipt? Well maybe, anything is possible I guess.

Surly not in SC! I'm in SC also at the other end of the state. Crack addicts and others that are not so far gone that they can't figure things out, or have someone else tell them how to do it, pull the looking for receipts and then pick up items in the store to get a refund. Another scam is if they get food given to them they take it and try to return it. Wife volunteers at a soup kitchen and when they get donated food in the first thing they do is mark out the bar code so a store wont give a refund on it if someone gets the packaged food and tries to get cash for it.

Maybe it's a SC thing.

KEH

There was a guy that owned a small trucking company and he used to search the trash outside O'Reilly's for reciepts and I asked him one day why. He said that since he had a bunch of old beater trucks he was always servicing and he could use the extra reciepts for his taxes. He never returned much so I figured he wasn't shoplifting, although that was an issue at that store.