Stealing Merchandise After a Personal Check Was Declined

I worked retail and had customers who forgot their credit cards. We were able to put aside their bags and...not a receipt..but the suspended list, so when/if they came back later, we could just type in all the UPC's again instead of unbagging, rescanning, rebagging.

Gee, could they charge that as 39 separate incidents of theft or would they charge it as theft by deception since they showed a fake receipt when exiting?

I don't wanna think about that one. OP made a choice to take the stuff and walk out.

Quote:

---

Quoting PandorasBox

---

I don't wanna think about that one. OP made a choice to take the stuff and walk out.

---

Maybe.

What if the check still clears?...despite the fact that it didn't clear their check cashing system?

Don't know about that. I just put the check through the register and it cleared.

Here's one way to look at this. If you think you are going to be arrested anyway, then why not get arrested while attempting to pay for your mistake. It may make no difference that you are paying for it after the fact but if nothing else it allows you to control the arrest time and place.
If you head to the store with the money and the belief that you are going to be arrested then you can plan ahead, neighbor given a key and asked to feed the dog and water the plants while you are gone vs them showing up at your door in the middle of cooking a large meal that you can't put away or arrange for anything else to be taken care of while you are gone.

Quote:

---

Quoting llworking

---

Maybe.

What if the check still clears?...despite the fact that it didn't clear their check cashing system?

---

They suspended the transaction so it wouldn't continue trying to process the check even if it worked that way. The only way to have the check "reconsidered" is to re-run it.

Trying to get a check accepted the same day when it has been denied would be a Herculean task because of the hoops you have to jump through to clear the denial. At least, that was my experience in retail.

A point of information about check clearing (at least my understanding of it) is that when a store like Wal-Mart runs a check it is compared to the Certegy network database. It does not go to any bank for clearing or for account balance verification. The check is later electronically transmitted to the bank overnight usually after closing.

If a check doesn't clear the Certegy database it means the account has bounced a check in the past or the account has been 'closed for cause' by the bank.

Budwad is correct. If you want to get into the vagaries of all this there are sub forums over on credit boards.

SecurityConsulant is right. I've seen WalMart video of guys buying gift cards that was good enough to read the writing on patches on their sleeves that was used in subsequent prosecutions. If I was going to be involved in something I wanted anonymity I'd avoid doing any part of it at WalMart (even buying my tools).