Best Buy Customer Claims Employee Stole His Identity And Used It To Buy Stuff At Best Buy

Did employee take “Get Yours” a bit too literally? (Maulleigh)

When you use your retailer credit card at one of the company’s stores, it might seem like that’s the safest place to use it. But one Best Buy customer said he feels decidedly unsafe and has lost trust in the store after an employee allegedly swiped his personal information to gain access to his store card.

The customer tells KTVU.com in California that he’d used his Best Buy card to purchase a cell phone. A week later, he tried to buy something at the same location, only to be told his card was declined. He has a weekly spending limit of $1,000 on the card, but is pretty darn sure he had only used the card to buy the $100 phone.

“I was like, ‘How could it get declined?’” he said. “It shouldn’t decline.”

Lo and behold, the assistant manager brought up receipts showing three purchases of iPad Air tablets on the day he’d visited the store to buy the phone, totaling more than $1,600 in charges on the customer’s card.

The customer claims the man who allegedly stole his identity is the same guy who sold him the phone. He’d given the worker his Social Security number and other personal info to make the purchase and activate the phone. And apparently, he’s not the only one crying foul — the general manager told him there are other cases involving the same associate.

The local police say they’re looking into it, and that “at some point if Best Buy comes forward with additional information we may be able to put together a package for prosecution,” a police rep said.

Best Buy released a statement saying it’s aware of the situation: “We are working with local law enforcement. We cannot comment further, given that there is an ongoing investigation.”

Now is a good time to remind anyone with a store credit card — make sure you check your statements, lest you end up the victim of theft like this customer.

“I feel betrayed because I always put Best Buy at a very high level,” he explains. “I’m a Best Buy customer. I love the store, so when I go in there of course I’m going to trust them. I figure if I go there my information is safe and now that’s not the case.”

We’ve reached out to KTVU.com to see if there have been any updates to the situation since it was first reported last week, and we’ll let you know if we hear anything new. A rep for Best Buy told Consumerist there aren’t any updates as of yet.

Best Buy customer says employee stole his identity [KTVU.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist