Asda colleague praised for helping customers spot ‘gift card’ scammers

Harry McCandless, security section leader at Asda Newtownards, says he and store colleagues have identified as many as 10 to 15 potential victims in the past six months.

“We’re seeing people receive messages on social media platforms from someone who pretends to be famous,” says Harry. “Or it could be someone pretending to be in a relationship with them, someone they’ve never met.

“Once they’ve gained this person’s trust, they’ll say any number of things – that their career is in trouble or they need help for some other reason. We’ve seen the messages. We’ve gone through them with our customers, some of whom have been quite vulnerable in one way or another, and they’re awful.”

Harry, 48, says the most common con he has spotted is one where victims – who he says vary in age, gender and background – are asked to buy gift cards in store, sharing the bar codes with their scammers via social media.

He says: “The amounts aren’t small, these customers could be spending a couple of hundred on gift cards, even more. In most cases, we can spot it quite quickly simply because the amount people are spending is a red flag.

“Once we speak to them, we’re often able to chat through the details of the scam and advise them to go to the police. It can be very upsetting for some to accept they’ve been tricked because they’ve become emotionally involved with the scammer – or the person they thought they were speaking to.

“But for me, it’s a rewarding thing to do. In one case, a customer we spoke to retrieved around £1,000 following intervention from the police, while another, who believed he was spending £750 on gift cards for a so-called ‘girlfriend’ in Canada, stopped just short of losing all that money because we felt uncomfortable with that amount, and once we’d spoken to him it became clear this was a scam. He later came back and thanked us.

"Something like this would have been unheard of a few years ago, but it’s become alarmingly common. We’re more than happy to step in and advise when we can if something doesn’t feel right for our customers. That’s what we’re here for.”

Andrew Alderdice, General Store Manager at Asda Newtownards, praised Harry for the work he has done.

He said: “We have fantastic colleagues right across our store who care about our customers. Harry just goes to prove this, stepping in and providing great on the ground support – and pointing them to the police if necessary.

"I’ve witnessed Harry first hand talking to customers about the possibility they may have been scammed, with customers then returning to thank him. We’re incredibly proud of him. Well done Harry!”