Compiled by Anita Dangazele
- The Citizen reports a pensioner’s stolen bank card was used to buy R421,000 in Pick n Pay vouchers over two days.
- Pick n Pay disciplined and dismissed staff involved but denies committing any fraud against the pensioner, The Citizen reports.
An elderly man had his bank card stolen. What happened next, according to The Citizen, is a company that punished its own staff while insisting nothing was wrong.
The Citizen reports that more than R421,000 worth of Pick n Pay gift vouchers were bought on the pensioner’s stolen card at the retailer’s Umhlanga Crescent store in August last year. The purchases were processed across multiple tills over two days, in amounts of R20,000 at a time. In several cases, a declined transaction was immediately followed by a successful one on the same card.
Pick n Pay told The Citizen the purchases were legitimate and that it had not committed fraud against the pensioner. At the same time, the retailer confirmed it had disciplined staff over the transactions, and that those staff no longer work for the company. It would not say what they were disciplined for or what the outcome was.
The Citizen reports that Pick n Pay tried to report the matter to police but was told the bank needed to open the case, and that the pensioner himself would have to lay charges.
Private investigator Brad Nathanson, who is looking into the case, told The Citizen he is examining whether the retailer’s handling of the transactions could amount to reckless or negligent conduct under the Companies Act. He believes criminal syndicates recruit domestic workers and other vulnerable people to steal cards and valuables, which are then converted into vouchers.
“I don’t believe my client is the only person,” Nathanson said.
He is investigating similar voucher transactions on the same card at a second retailer.
Pictured above: The entrance of a Pick n Pay store.
Image source: File
