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  1. #1
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    Default A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: A return fraud to a shop

    Around mother's day I received a top from people who I work with. they are a vulnerable group who I help voluntary. i went to the shop to change the size, but i was looking around for a while to find something so I picked many items to try on and i wan around the store for a while. i went to the fitting room and i think there was someone there to check how many i had with me. after i came out went to the desk to exchange and they said it's ok so exchange it for another size. after a week i decided to exchange it again and went back to the store to buy a perfume instead. this time as soon as i enterd the store showed my item to the first customer service adviser and she got suspecious and treated me very badly when she saw that i was going to exchange a top to a beauty item. she didn't respond proparely and went to get her manager. the manager took me to women's floor and said they will send me a gift card in 2-3 days. and asked me for my address and name. after 2 weeks that i never heard from them i staretd calling them up and finally a guy said that he is going to issue me gift cards. after a week he said it is going to be a cheque. after another week he asked for my name again and after another week he said your cheque is ready just to come over to pick it up tomorrow. the following day i received a letter from a fraud investigator saying that the store reported me for dishonesty and he wanted to interview me, so i called him and he said don't go to the store. i must say that i have 10 years work exeperience working in a bank, school, retails and charities as a fund-raiser with no convictions and as i volunteer with volunrable people i can not have any bad records on me. i am very worried now cause i think they may think i did something wrong. now my questions are: if they was any issues why they exchanged it for the first time? 2. is it legal that they framed me, they wanted me to go to the store but i was lucky that i received the letter that day and didn't go? 3. that girl who suspected the situation did not observe anything, so can i sue her for humilating me? 4. and do they have any proof that made them report me to the fraud investigator or they are just suspecting? please help... i don't want to go to the interview, can i?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    Quote Quoting noo
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    the following day i received a letter from a fraud investigator saying that the store reported me for dishonesty and he wanted to interview me, so i called him and he said don't go to the store.
    Are we to infer that this investigator works for the store, then? And by "don't go to the store", do you mean you've been banned from the store (If so, don't go to the store) or was that just in relation to whether there would be a check to pick up?
    Quote Quoting noo
    i am very worried now cause i think they may think i did something wrong.
    That's a very reasonable conclusion.
    Quote Quoting noo
    now my questions are: if they was any issues why they exchanged it for the first time?
    Perhaps they were suspicious the first time, and their suspicions only grew with your subsequent conduct and exchange. The only way to know what they were thinking, or when, is from them.
    Quote Quoting noo
    is it legal that they framed me
    Nobody framed you for anything.
    Quote Quoting noo
    ...they wanted me to go to the store but i was lucky that i received the letter that day and didn't go?
    I can't see the letter from here. If you have in fact been banned from the store, yes, it's a good thing you didn't go in the event that somebody might have thought you were violating the ban. As you didn't go to the store, we'll never know what might have happened.
    Quote Quoting noo
    that girl who suspected the situation did not observe anything, so can i sue her for humilating me?
    There's no law that says a store employee can't suspect you of shoplifting, or that a store employee has to be nice to you. There's no law that requires an employee to process your return herself if her suspicions or store policy cause her to instead request that a manager take over. You have not indicated what in her actions would have "humiliated" you, or that your humiliation would have been apparent to any other person. You have not indicated that you have suffered any damages, economic or otherwise, as a result of this claimed humiliation. So, so far, you haven't shared anything with us that would support a successful lawsuit.
    Quote Quoting noo
    and do they have any proof that made them report me to the fraud investigator or they are just suspecting?
    You have told us that there is no proof for them to find. If that's the case, then it should follow that they are suspicious of your conduct.
    Quote Quoting noo
    please help... i don't want to go to the interview, can i?
    You never have to talk to a store employee. You have a Fifth Amendment right not to talk to the police. If you don't talk to the store employee, you can reasonably anticipate that any ban from the store will continue and that you're probably not going to get a gift card or check. But odds are the purpose of the interview is to try to get you to confess to criminal activity, and there are plenty of reasons not to put yourself in that position.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
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    Are we to infer that this investigator works for the store, then? And by "don't go to the store", do you mean you've been banned from the store (If so, don't go to the store) or was that just in relation to whether there would be a check to pick up?

    That's a very reasonable conclusion.

    Perhaps they were suspicious the first time, and their suspicions only grew with your subsequent conduct and exchange. The only way to know what they were thinking, or when, is from them.

    Nobody framed you for anything.

    I can't see the letter from here. If you have in fact been banned from the store, yes, it's a good thing you didn't go in the event that somebody might have thought you were violating the ban. As you didn't go to the store, we'll never know what might have happened.

    There's no law that says a store employee can't suspect you of shoplifting, or that a store employee has to be nice to you. There's no law that requires an employee to process your return herself if her suspicions or store policy cause her to instead request that a manager take over. You have not indicated what in her actions would have "humiliated" you, or that your humiliation would have been apparent to any other person. You have not indicated that you have suffered any damages, economic or otherwise, as a result of this claimed humiliation. So, so far, you haven't shared anything with us that would support a successful lawsuit.

    You have told us that there is no proof for them to find. If that's the case, then it should follow that they are suspicious of your conduct.

    You never have to talk to a store employee. You have a Fifth Amendment right not to talk to the police. If you don't talk to the store employee, you can reasonably anticipate that any ban from the store will continue and that you're probably not going to get a gift card or check. But odds are the purpose of the interview is to try to get you to confess to criminal activity, and there are plenty of reasons not to put yourself in that position.
    oh thanks for the great replies! i must clarify some points:
    1. as i said i did not pay for the top myself and you never know what if the people who gave it me actually never paid for it and now the loss prevention of the store found it out and that's why they put me throu this situation
    2. by framing me i must say as i mentioned the store manager called me many times and he kindly asked me to go to the store to pick up my check and then bank it, so why did he not mentioned anything that it could have been a fraud or something? he said bring your id and collect it
    3. the following day when i was leaving the house to go to the shop i saw the letter which was very luck and called him up this investigator based in the police station so it makes it even scarier!! anyway, when i asked him tat are you aware that i am going to the store now to collecet thecheck he said no don't go. he didn't mention about the ban but he obviously didn't want me to go and get the money to put myself in more trouble. i don't mind banning at all i will never ever go there anyway and if i had, i m sure they would have asked their securities to investigate me. so is the manager's attitude towards me is honest? shouln't he have told me anything?
    4. and now as they have my address i don't want them to turn up to my house from the police station as i live in a shared house. so what should i say to the investigator? i don't want to go to the police station to meet him? if i email him, would he accept?[/QUOTE]

    i don't want the item back or the money just want this to be ended.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    Quote Quoting noo
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    as i said i did not pay for the top myself and you never know what if the people who gave it me actually never paid for it and now the loss prevention of the store found it out and that's why they put me throu this situation
    You need to be careful accepting gifts from people who may be thieves, and more so about returning their gifts to what may be the victims of their crimes.
    Quote Quoting noo
    by framing me i must say as i mentioned the store manager called me many times and he kindly asked me to go to the store to pick up my check and then bank it, so why did he not mentioned anything that it could have been a fraud or something? he said bring your id and collect it
    So... nobody framed you for anything.
    Quote Quoting noo
    the following day when i was leaving the house to go to the shop i saw the letter which was very luck and called him up this investigator based in the police station so it makes it even scarier!
    If the store made a police report which the police are now investigating, it's likely that neither knows about the communication of the other: That the police officer was aware that somebody offered you a check when he asked you to agree to be interviewed, and that the store was unaware that the police officer sent you the letter when it offered you the refund payment.
    Quote Quoting noo
    so what should i say to the investigator?
    As, from what you're now saying, this is a police officer, you're better served by lawyering up and deciding in consultation with your lawyer whether you are going to make any additional statements to the officer and what they should be.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    i see. yes i am going to talk to a lawyer soon but what makes it even worse is that i am on visa and waiting to receive my long term residence permit so mean while i must be very careful and to be interviewed because it could imapct my application. oh my god, i am very very nervous now. i hope at least i can postpone my interview til my visa comes around.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    I just noticed that you failed to follow the instruction to identify your state, and some of your spelling suggests you're more likely in the U.K., Canada or Australia. If you're not in the U.S., references to U.S. legal protections such as the Fifth Amendment aren't applicable, and you will have to research or ask a lawyer what similar protections your nation might offer.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    yes your guess is true. thanks I will do.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: A Fraud Investigator Wants to Interview Me

    sorry what are the consequences if i go or don't go to the interview?
    i couldn't find a good lawyer that's why i am asking this now...

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