Accused of Retail Fraud at TKMaxx and can't defend the allegations.

[batty69]

Hi, I've worked in a retail before were there was various frauds going around which were very difficult to prove, as such the police would rarely pursue them or if it got past that stage,they still had a good chance of being thrown out at court because the offences couldn't be disproved as being genuine mistakes

 

However that is the good news, the bad news is that retailers are very aware that where the fraud is difficult to prove then they will need substantial evidence and will not pursue a prosecution after a one off incident.

 

Here's my interpretation of what has happened (please don't assume I'm making any aspersions about your guilt or innocence)

 

First off, your shopping habits (i.e. the high volume and ratio of returns) are highly suspicous. While they do not constitute a crime themselves, they will need explaining to the court. You won't be able to adopt the attitude, "that doesn't prove anything, so I don't need to explain myself". A jury of ordinary people will take this into consideration with all the other evidence when they come to a verdict so it needs adequate explanation and if possible proof from your side.

 

Now what I think has happened is that your shopping habits have alerted the store that something untoward has been going on. If they had proof they would have not waited till you came into the store to confront you if they had your details. What it sounds like they have done is launched an investigation and have been watching you for some time after they became alerted.

 

As you say it's impossible for them to match up the items to the reciepts, what they will have done is started to gather proof so they can match up items to the receipts. One method is to have your picture behind the tills, with a message saying something like, do not challenge this customer but contact security after serving them.

 

After being served, the staff member would then contact security, they would be asked what item you bought,how much and the till number. At some point later security would obtain the till roll and CCTV as back up.

 

I'm not saying this is exactly what has happened, but will be something along these lines to match up the receipts to the goods for them to gather their evidence.They will probably then wait for you to return the items and follow the process again.

 

Typically they will let this hapen two times, as once could still be a mistake and hard to prove it was deliberate.

 

Now here a very crucial question, on these 8 items you returned which had a fraudulent refund, how many items did you return ? e.g. did you return 16 items and 8 had the incorrect refund or was 8 out 8 ? Furthermore on your visits you sought refunds, were they consequetive visits for the refunds or had you claimed refunds inbetween which wern't alledegdly fraudulent ?

 

"Also, TKMaxx have some items in bags which they say are the items I returned. I doubt they could prove that because I don't remember them being pu aside when I returned them. Someone must have dashed out of the security office and collected them, or gone through the receipts and found similar items. I doubt there is an unbroken evidence chain."

As I said, chances are there has been investigation and them dashing out of the secuirty office will be precisely what they did. "Unbroken chain of evidence" ? if they done their job properly, they will have taken statements from staff and logged the incident in the security book to establish the chain.

Just because you didn't see something happen, doesnt mean it didn't happen.In fact they will have taken steps so you wern't aware while they built up their evidence.

Action plan for you:

1) Find out about legal aid (I've know people in good full time jobs with reasonable savings still be able to claim it)

2) Engage a solictor (you can do 1.) when you enquire at a solictor)

3) Find out if an internal investigation was undertaken by the suspect (I suspect it has) and how thorough it was.

But please, please don't adopt the attitude of "they can't prove that, so they have no case", what you consider as proof is bound to differ to what the store,police,court and most importatntly a Jury consider as evidence.

Reason why I say this is because a mate of mine adopted this attitude and was sent down, even as he left the court he was screaming "It's not fair, you can't prove it". Fact was he was guilty as sin and he admitted it to me, but I didn;t want him to get sent down as he was my mate. I seriously think if he approached the case differently and challenged the evidence against him he could have got away with it.

Hope this isn't to harsh, I have no opionion over your guilt or innocence but am telling you how it looks at the moment.

The key thing which most seasoned people will tell you on this forum is that once it gets to court. Right or wrong doesn't come into it anymore. Going to court whether civil or criminal is a big game. You need to now start playing that game.

Good luck, keep us all informed.