Every little helped for PC who racked up 18,000 Air Miles in Clubcard scam

[Nigelinoz]

I honestly didn't think anyone would be that desperate to fly BA !.
I also think they're wrong with the calculations about the value of 18000 air miles.
From:
Every little helped for PC who racked up 18,000 Air Miles in Clubcard scam - Times Online

A police officer who discovered a loophole in Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty scheme has been convicted of cheating his way to 18,000 Air Miles.
PC Shaun Pennicott faces losing his job after being convicted of “going equipped to cheat” when he repeatedly abused the supermarket’s self-service checkouts.
In two months the loyalty points he collected would have paid for six return flights between London and New York.
Tesco admitted yesterday that the loophole was still open. It would cost too much to close it but procedures were in place to alert the company if any of the 13 million families that use its loyalty scheme attempted to abuse it.

 

[samh004]

That story is from March 2007.

Obviously, repeatedly scanning the same coupon is "cheating", but the store should have adequately thought out the promotion.

However this quote reminds me of that guy from the US that bought thousands of cheap food stuffs, cut out the coupons, sent them in and received millions of miles. There was nothing wrong with that, so why should there be something wrong with this guy buying 759 of the cheapest meals in a day, it's smart:

Ms Leigh told the court that in September 2005 the officer had legally taken advantage of a Tesco promotion involving Bird’s Eye meals. In three days he bought 759 of the cheapest meals and received 38,000 Clubcard points.

 

[Nigelinoz]

That story is from March 2007

It was linked to another Times story about Tesco doubling the face value of their coupons but it was irrelevant to this site but I thought the other story was of interest for a little "light relief",which is why I posted it.

 

[samh004]

It was linked to another Times story about Tesco doubling the face value of their coupons but it was irrelevant to this site but I thought the other story was of interest for a little "light relief",which is why I posted it.

I didn't say it wasn't appropriate, just a little out of date.

 

[Mal]

I suppose it's a subtle warning to everyone that there is a difference between playing within the rules (or slightly outside them!) and outright fraud.

 

[oz_mark]

I suppose it's a subtle warning to everyone that there is a difference between playing within the rules (or slightly outside them!) and outright fraud.

Also worth noting that many loyalty schemes do have audits and so on, and can pick up on things.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

That story is from March 2007.



However this quote reminds me of that guy from the US that bought thousands of cheap food stuffs, cut out the coupons, sent them in and received millions of miles. :

If you mean The Pudding Guy (you can google him)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Phillips_(entrepreneur)http://info.westpac.com.au/singaporeairlines/MemberOffers.aspx

he earnt 1,2543,000 miles.

 

[odysseus]

Does anyone know the details? The explanation seems contradictory to me:

"At the supermarket’s self-service checkout he scanned the barcodes on the Clubcard and coupon
-When the checkout machine requested the coupon, he inserted a blank piece of paper and then withdrew it. There is no barcode reader in the machine to check if coupons are genuine "

Obviously the machines do have barcode readers, to read all the merchandise for one thing, so what do they mean that there is no barcode reader and he could insert a blank piece of paper? Why not read the barcode on whatever voucher he has?

 

[oz_mark]

Does anyone know the details? The explanation seems contradictory to me:

"At the supermarket’s self-service checkout he scanned the barcodes on the Clubcard and coupon
-When the checkout machine requested the coupon, he inserted a blank piece of paper and then withdrew it. There is no barcode reader in the machine to check if coupons are genuine "

Obviously the machines do have barcode readers, to read all the merchandise for one thing, so what do they mean that there is no barcode reader and he could insert a blank piece of paper? Why not read the barcode on whatever voucher he has?

It reads to me as though there were a separate slot to insert the coupon into. Not sure why they couldn't use the machines normal scanning device for it.

 

[Mal]

It reads to me as though there were a separate slot to insert the coupon into. Not sure why they couldn't use the machines normal scanning device for it.

Looks like an ATM receipt slot:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/05/article-1159449-03C057E8000005DC-75_468x346.jpg

I presume the process was scan barcode, insert coupon into slot. Pretty much an honesty system from what I can see.

 

[JohnK]

I suppose it's a subtle warning to everyone that there is a difference between playing within the rules (or slightly outside them!) and outright fraud.

And a lot of the time there is a fine line between playing withing the rules and fraud. If you are obsessed, or addicted, with something your thinking becomes clouded in the quest for the reward.

I am not saying what he did is right but I do not think he should resign from the police force or sacked if he does not resign. Even though he should have a been more honest and less obsessive there are other police officers doing worse than him, bribes and drugs, and are getting away with it.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

. Even though he should have a been more honest and less obsessive there are other police officers doing worse than him, bribes and drugs, and are getting away with it.

Why should he have been less obsessive???

There was nothing wrong with making oodles of redemptions with VALID vouchers.

His problem was clearly making invalid redemptions with full knowledge it was so.

He was not accidently putting a "blank" piece of paper in....he was doing so in full knowledge of his actions and that it was against the rules.


If he had stuck to obessively making large numbers of valid claims there would have been no problem.

 

[straitman]

Why should he have been less obsessive???

There was nothing wrong with making oodles of redemptions with VALID vouchers.

His problem was clearly making invalid redemptions with full knowledge it was so.

He was not accidently putting a "blank" piec of paper in....he was doing so in full knowledge of his actions.

Correct :!:

If he had stuck to obessively making large numbers of valid claims there would have been no problem.

Correct :!:

You have answered your own question. (Twice)

 

[JohnK]

Why should he have been less obsessive???

He was obsessed with collecting airline miles for overseas trips to the point where he found a way to get around the system. Unless of course you believe people chasing credit card loyalty points, mileage runners, mattress runners etc are not obsessed or addicted with their goal.

Just like the Amex promotion Tesco needs to take some of the blame here for not having adequate systems in place to recognise that the barcode has been used already and is no longer valid.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Just like the Amex promotion Tesco needs to take some of the blame here for not having adequate systems in place to recognise that the barcode has been used already and is no longer valid.

I do not think it is like it at all.

He did not follow T&C (as I would imagine that T&C would have stated that you had to submit a valid voucher...and if not then I doubt the Court would have found against him).

In the Amex promo....Amex simply did not realise the implications of their T&C.

Those that gained points have done so with valid transactions.

His "extra" transcations were not valid, and inded were misrepresented knowingly by himself to be valid. Hence the fraud.


Mattress runners etc may be obsessive...but if they are following T&C they are "using" the promo...not "abusing" it.

 

[samh004]

The article said he resigned, so I searched on google and found this. The article said he was married and had 2 kids, the dates match with the age (42 in 2007, 44 in 2009).

Looks like he's now divorced and in the navy. Chief Petty Officer is not bad.

Similar? Different? You be the judge.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Similar? Different? You be the judge.

Given this quote:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"I love to travel abroad and it would be great if she shared that passion."[/FONT]

In the article you foynd...yep sounds like it.