Pick n Pay distances itself after R421,000 in gift vouchers bought on stolen card

A major voucher fraud spanning two days at a Pick n Pay store in Umhlanga has left an elderly pensioner out of pocket after more than R421,000 in gift vouchers were reportedly purchased using the victim’s stolen bank card.

What happened

According to The Citizen, the purchases were made at Pick n Pay’s Umhlanga Crescent store during August last year. The Citizen has seen transaction records, internal company correspondence and communications related to the case.

Those records show the purchases were processed across multiple tills over two days, with credit card journals detailing dozens of consecutive voucher purchases processed within minutes of one another using the same bank card. Many transactions were for R20,000 increments, and the files include at least one instance where a declined authorisation was immediately followed by a successful transaction.

Pick n Pay response

Pick n Pay told reporters it did not commit fraud against the individual and has distanced the retailer from responsibility for the theft. The retailer said the fraud was committed against the pensioner rather than by the store, and that it had attempted to report the matter to the police but was advised the bank needed to open the fraud case.

The Citizen reports Pick n Pay also said it followed its disciplinary process for the staff involved, and later confirmed employees implicated in the transactions were no longer employed.

Investigation and outstanding questions

Private investigator Brad Nathanson is quoted in material seen by The Citizen as questioning whether the pattern of transactions and the apparent failure to stop repeated high-value voucher purchases could raise broader questions about controls, oversight and accountability. The Citizen says Nathanson sought access to employees after learning Pick n Pay had conducted an internal investigation that he understood resulted in dismissals, resignations and disciplinary action.

The Citizen also says it submitted detailed questions to the Umhlanga store about why repeated high-value voucher purchases did not trigger intervention, whether store management had been alerted, what evidence had been preserved and what safeguards had been introduced. The newspaper later received a copy of an internal Pick n Pay e-mail headed “Please see below for guidance” but no substantive response addressing those questions was received before publication.

How the transactions were described in records

• More than R421,000 in Pick n Pay gift vouchers were allegedly purchased on the stolen card.
• Transactions were processed across multiple tills over two days.
• Credit card journals show dozens of consecutive purchases made within minutes on the same card.
• Many purchases were for R20,000, with at least one declined authorisation immediately followed by success.

Current status

According to The Citizen, Pick n Pay said staff implicated in the transactions were no longer employed. The Citizen has published the internal records and correspondence it obtained relating to the matter.

“These were legitimate transactions in our stores. Pick n Pay did not commit fraud against the individual,” the retailer said, according to The Citizen.

Further developments and any formal criminal case were not detailed in the material provided to The Citizen.