Strange happening at a dept store--could my identity be stolen?

[WTEChesser]

I bought a couple of t-shirts today at Uniqlo. When I was still in the department store, an older woman asked to see my receipt for the shirts in my bag. The second I showed her my receipt, she gave it a quick scan, then took it from me and ran. Another woman outside of the department store pulled on the Uniqlo bag and asked for my receipt as well. I paid with my bank card... Is there any way a person could steal my identity from the information on the receipt? If not, why would someone want the receipt from Uniqlo?

[krystal]

I'm curious about this too. As I was leaving Lotte Department store last week there was a woman outside with a receipt in her hand, she kept gesturing to it and to the bag in my hand. I guessed she wanted to see my receipt but that's just weird so I ignored her and walked off. Found the whole incident rather strange... would love to know what she wanted with the receipt!

[Morticae]

Actually, my CT was just telling me about something like this last week. He said to be careful. You shouldn't throw away your receipts if you paid with your bank card, because it's possible to steal your information.

I don't know if it's true, but that's what he told me.

[imstuckinglue]

I've heard that this is a "hot issue" right now. People are saying to be very careful with your receipts if you paid using your card and to shred them when you throw them away. I don't know if there is any real threat but I've been trying to be more careful with mine. If someone started talking to me and asking me for stuff, then I would definitely just pull the foreigner card and walk away. What are they going to do? 

[spidertao]

you know... my gf said that it's more to do with getting money from the government or something. apparently, with receipts, you pay less taxes or something lol dunno about identity theft, that sounds kinda serious. i usually ask the person to throw it away for me =/

[taeyang]

i know why!!!

its for taxes! the women are scam artists - they'll ask for your receipts so they can claim some sort of tax on it.

but i don't know if it involves your personal data. sorry about that :(

[krystal]

I had thought it might be something like that, to do with tax refunds. But either way, best not to hand anything to a stranger that contains some of your personal details. The lady I encountered followed me for a minute but I kept walking and ignored her so she stopped. Pretty random!

[woman-king]

Yikes--thanks for the heads up!  Will avoid ajummas insisting they see my receipts.  :o

[Fanwarrior]

if you paid with a bank card it's useless to them. Those are automatically credited to your tax account
The only way a receipt is useful to them would be if you paid with cash and didn't use a tax receipt card or otherwise associated the purchase with your tax ID (you can set it up so that you can give the clerk your phone number and it'll be credit to your account)

[taeyang]

if you paid with a bank card it's useless to them. Those are automatically credited to your tax account
The only way a receipt is useful to them would be if you paid with cash and didn't use a tax receipt card or otherwise associated the purchase with your tax ID (you can set it up so that you can give the clerk your phone number and it'll be credit to your account)

this!

[WTEChesser]

Just the thought of any kind of identity theft here sounds like a terrifying nightmare. I had another bag from a bookstore with me, but neither woman seemed interested in that one.  Should I alert my bank just in case?

[Fanwarrior]

Just the thought of any kind of identity theft here sounds like a terrifying nightmare. I had another bag from a bookstore with me, but neither woman seemed interested in that one.  Should I alert my bank just in case?

Alert them of what?
Do you really think your bank is going to believe that some random old Korean woman without passport or ARC is Joe Smith English teacher if she tried to go in and access your account?

[ave, lucifer]

They do this to get some kind of benefit from the department store, eg. if you purchase from Lotte department store you get thrown into some kind of raffle/competition, or if you spend enough money there you can claim some item for free. The same way you show your receipt to claim an hour or two free parking at some department stores

It's not identity theft i'm fairly certain.

[jkang]

They do this to get some kind of benefit from the department store, eg. if you purchase from Lotte department store you get thrown into some kind of raffle/competition, or if you spend enough money there you can claim some item for free. The same way you show your receipt to claim an hour or two free parking at some department stores

It's not identity theft i'm fairly certain.

I'll have to agree with lucifer that i would be something to do with entering raffles. BUT, you should still be careful with your receipts for bank cards because every store covers different parts of your personal information. if you collect just a few of your receipts from different stores and put them together, you can get all your information pretty easily.

ie. if store one covers the first 4 numbers XXXX 5678 1234 5678 and store two covers the last 4 numbers 1234 5678 1234 5678. then with these two receipts, i can get the entire card number. 1234 5678 1234 5678.