Use A Gift Card at Best Buy = Get Arrested

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Still hanging on to those gift cards you got at Christmas? You might want to read this story first…unless you like getting arrested, handcuffed, taken downtown and searched.

On top of that, upon my exiting the police station finally after being released, ANOTHER young guy around my age was brought in from the very SAME Best Buy for THE EXACT SAME REASON - trying to make a purchase with a gift card, the only difference being that his gift cards were Master Cards.
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So instead of say... asking for a government issued ID, taking down its info, then verifying the info, they arrested her...

I'm sure she was planning on getting ~$100 worth of best buy junk, then leave the country.
 
Damn, they frisked her under her shirt?! WTF calls for that besides anything short of armed robbery? Then there was another guy at the precinct for the same reason? I've read a lot of horror stories from BB, but that one takes the cake. I hope she gets some publicity for it and is awarded some sort of compensation for it from BB. They definitely owe it to her for all that BS.
 
lol, i'd take all my gift cards there immediately and pay for something, but I'm not about to overpay for their worthless shit
 
I wonder how many of her dad's customers had this happen to them? That would be a PR nightmare.

Can't really blame BB, they called it in and where told that cards were fake.
 
Hi All

As to the police frisking her, that's done for their protection as well as the person who's being frisked.
 
This reminds me of the guy who was arrested in a Best Buy for trying to pay for a stereo installation with $2 bills. While I get that some Best Buy store employee may not be that bright, I'm amazed the police follow through and take people in for these retarded scenarios.
 
jtm55 said:
Hi All

As to the police frisking her, that's done for their protection as well as the person who's being frisked.
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Bullshit. You can feel a weapon through a shirt just fine, no need to cup a chick's breast because of a supposedly bogus gift card.
 
If you are not under arrest can they place you in a cell? It didn't specifically say she was under arrest in the article but that she was "detained".
 
Hi All

You've just heard from the eye witness account of Troz that the female officer cuffed the womens breast. In addition, your assertion of Bullshit doesn't change the fact that it's standard operating procedure to search whoever is taken into custody. Period.
 
Troz said:
Bullshit. You can feel a weapon through a shirt just fine, no need to cup a chick's breast because of a supposedly bogus gift card.
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If someone is going into a jail cell, they should be thoroughly searched, end of story. You can easily conceal drugs under a moderately sized breast and a quick feel through a shirt might not detect them. Should she have been there in the first place? Probably not. Should we fault the detention officer for doing their job? Definitely not. It's an issue of officer safety.
 
Hey guys...

fyb.jpg


Maybe it was a checkup.... :p
 
I hear about all the horror stories, but BB has always treated me good provided i am not their most profitable customer, they have always honor their price mistakes, coupons and even their stuff on sale and matched me prices to walmart.

Must be my local BB have pretty cool people working there. I live in OK, Norman so i guess that has something to do, being in a 100k population city compared to I.E LA or NY where you get all the crooks and criminals.

I don't know why people overreact sometimes, if BB closed down or other retailers followed them you could well see your property and local taxes increased because the loss of revenue, so don't just jump on the bandwagon and condemn them because in the end you are the one who ends up paying. Most city taxes are not tax deductible so is not a good thing.

The people who want BB to go out of business clearly doesn't know what they talk about, because in the end if B&M loses more ground to Etailers they could pass a new law and all online shopping will be taxed.
 
I don't see the problem here. The police were given evidence that showed the card as illegal. Even though it turned out not to be, the police still had to investigate it.

The one in the wrong here was Amex for hiring incompetent outsourced employees.
 
Crucible1001 said:
I don't see the problem here. The police were given evidence that showed the card as illegal. Even though it turned out not to be, the police still had to investigate it.

The one in the wrong here was Amex for hiring incompetent outsourced employees.
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What evidence? A minimum wage peons word that something was "fishy" or the random outsourced Indian that can barely complete a sentence. I'd like to know in what world either one of those should merit me being hauled off, my junk searched ( literally ) and thrown into a jail cell -- only to have them say "JK LOL SRRY FOR THE MISTAKE."

It's not like she was trying to pass a fist full of these.

Idiocracy_Money.jpg
 
Hi All

One thing that always amazing is how everyone tries to find fault with the Police. These are the very ones who GOD forbid were to have any type of mishap will sream at the top of their lungs for the Police. Just amazing.
 
Troz said:
Bullshit. You can feel a weapon through a shirt just fine, no need to cup a chick's breast because of a supposedly bogus gift card.
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They frisked her at the station.....this is done to everyone when they are being booked in. Its not bullshit, its just how it is done. If you've been arrested you've been through this before. yea it sucks but thats how things work. Its to check for anything illegal, drugs, weapons etc.....
 
Troz said:
Bullshit. You can feel a weapon through a shirt just fine, no need to cup a chick's breast because of a supposedly bogus gift card.
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lol ok then.

hey criminals, just hide shit under your shirt, you'll be fine !
 
while I agree the whole situation is jacked up, it's hard to say WHO is at fault.

Did the BB employee truely call AMEX? Did AMEX really say the card was fraudulent? Or did the BB employee call AMEX, not accurately explain the situation, and AMEX then told him the card was fraudlent (becuase they weren't given the proper info)?

I find no fault what-so-ever with the police. Sure, they probably could have put her in an interrogation room instead of a holding cell, but plenty of people get put into holding cells before they are officially booked.
And the frisking; isn't that normal? Anytime you get put in a holding cell the officers have the right to make sure you have nothing hiding?
 
If that was me I would have gone back to that best buy and got the store manager and gave the cops a real reason to put me in jail. You don't treat customers like they are thieves. You don't treat thieves like thieves until your chasing them through the parking lot. I can understand the cops just doing their job. How hard is it to get the ladies D.L. number and refuse the cards and check it out later. FFS , she had just used her own credit card for part of the purchase. Real criminal mastermind we have here.

I know, I know, internet tough guy and all, but I would at least go back and use their phone to order a bunch of pizza or something.
 
I'm just saying, before I'd send a customer to JAIL I might take a little more time to thoroughly investigate the situation. It obviously did not take that long to clear up the problem.
 
jtm55 said:
Hi All

One thing that always amazing is how everyone tries to find fault with the Police. These are the very ones who GOD forbid were to have any type of mishap will sream at the top of their lungs for the Police. Just amazing.
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Which is why the right to carry should be a right to all ;).
 
Arcygenical said:
Which is why the right to carry should be a right to all ;).
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Only time I'll call the police is to come clean up the mess.

I think the BB employee and the AMEX CSR are to blame. The police had nothing to do with it other than being called and investigating what happened. They detained her, then released her. BFD
 
I am sure she will get some free swag out of it since this will probably be a popular article/story.
 
Fafeifa said:
I hear about all the horror stories, but BB has always treated me good provided i am not their most profitable customer, they have always honor their price mistakes, coupons and even their stuff on sale and matched me prices to walmart.

Must be my local BB have pretty cool people working there. I live in OK, Norman so i guess that has something to do, being in a 100k population city compared to I.E LA or NY where you get all the crooks and criminals.

I don't know why people overreact sometimes, if BB closed down or other retailers followed them you could well see your property and local taxes increased because the loss of revenue, so don't just jump on the bandwagon and condemn them because in the end you are the one who ends up paying. Most city taxes are not tax deductible so is not a good thing.

The people who want BB to go out of business clearly doesn't know what they talk about, because in the end if B&M loses more ground to Etailers they could pass a new law and all online shopping will be taxed.
Click to expand...

Bullshit! Who do you think was there before BB? That's right smaller businesses they put out of business. Who would replace BB if they went out of business? That's right, small businesses that contribute more to the local economy than BB ever did. There is no danger of B&M's disappearing. Taxing internet purchases is a completely separate issue.
 
I guess I missed the part of the story where she was arrested before she was searched and put in handcuffs.
 
Wow, that's screwed up. I'd be having someone's job over it
 
I'm gonna quote a guy from their comments that sums everything up.

RecordStoreToughGuy_KnowsThreeChords
February 2, 2010 1:12 PM
Moderate |Flag for review

Lemme see if I can sum up the chain of events and prevailing opinion here:

1. Customer pays with a gift card.
2. BB employee suspects fraud, calls AMEX to confirm
3. AMEX says yes, there is something odd about the transaction.
4. BB employee, upon confirmation of suspicious activity, calls police to report a possible crime
5. Police arrive, determine further investigation needs to take place
6. Police take OP into custody pending further investigation, which results in OP being cuffed (Probably standard procedure) and frisked (also probably standard procedure)
7. OP is placed in cell while investigation is carried out and it is ultimately determined that no crime has been committed
8. OP is released, no charges filed
9. Story is posted on Consumerist
10. Everyone says OMGWTFBBSUXCOPSSUXSUESUESUEWAAAARGAHRBL

Really? This is your reaction? Sometimes innocent people are accused of crimes. That's why we have so many protections in the Constitution. Yes, it can be scary, and it sucks when it happens, but ultimately everyone was doing what they should have in this situation.
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I fail to see any logic behind arresting someone and taking them to jail for this. It's not like they are on a murder spree and need to be pulled off the street ASAP. Confiscate their cards and send them home until things are cleared up. If they did indeed do something fraudulent, pick them up later. Otherwise return their cards and apologize.
 
jtm55 said:
Hi All

One thing that always amazing is how everyone tries to find fault with the Police. These are the very ones who GOD forbid were to have any type of mishap will sream at the top of their lungs for the Police. Just amazing.
Click to expand...

Why could the officer not have called AMEX himself right then and there with the number on the back? They never had to put her in a cell, and therefore never should had to search her. There should be SOME proof before you do that to someone.

Could she demand the Best Buy employee be searched under their clothing and thrown in a jail cell for falsely claiming a crime occurred? Searching the BB employee and throwing them in a cell without any proof of guilt would be the same thing they did to this woman so clearly that police station has no problem with that.
 
Oh, and just to add, most of the blame here lies on the customer service rep who wrongfully told the police that there was something suspicious about the card. This girl basically got arrested because Apu from India didn't know how to use his software to determine whether the cards were legit or not.

He's the one who should be canned.
 
jtm55 said:
Hi All

One thing that always amazing is how everyone tries to find fault with the Police. These are the very ones who GOD forbid were to have any type of mishap will sream at the top of their lungs for the Police. Just amazing.
Click to expand...
genius alert
 
ROFL, I still have a $30 best buy gift card given to me over 2 years ago because everything from best buy is still $30 cheaper on newegg.
 
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