Retail and fast-food workers have taken to TikTok to showcase how they are exploiting customers by using discarded receipts to redeem rewards from various cash-back apps and websites, notably the Fetch app. This method allows users to accumulate points based on the amount spent at various retailers and fast-food outlets.
The Fetch app utilizes receipts to track rewards. When customers leave behind their receipts after making a purchase, employees can use these discarded receipts to fraudulently redeem points for their own accounts. With access to dozens of receipts per shift, workers can amass a significant number of points on the Fetch app, which can then be redeemed for various rewards.
A Florida Publix grocery store employee shared their scam on TikTok under the handle @thatgirl.sonti, demonstrating how they are taking advantage of customers by using their discarded receipts to redeem reward points on the Fetch app.
While the exact amount these employees are profiting from their customers’ left-behind receipts remains unclear, it appears that one needs to spend upwards of $3,000 on receipts to access a $25 reward redemption.
The TikTok user posted a video detailing how she collects customers’ receipts and uses them on the Fetch app to obtain reward vouchers. She showcased a pile of customer receipts that were left behind after purchases, captioning the video with, “Me when you all say you don’t want y’all receipt back.”
Although the Publix employee has since deleted the viral TikTok video, the internet captured it to highlight how grocery store employees are exploiting customers by using their receipts to redeem rewards on various cash-back apps.
In another TikTok video, a McDonald’s employee from Florida is seen posing with a handful of unclaimed receipts, suggesting that they plan to use the receipts to submit a voucher request through Fetch.
Additionally, a video from Florida features a smoothie store employee collecting receipts from customers to cash in on the Fetch app.
Some viewers expressed concern that these employees are so desperate that they are resorting to redeeming receipts for cash rewards, with comments like, “It takes seven years to win a $25 gift card,” and “[It] takes five hundred years just to get a $10 gift card.”
The practice of retail workers taking customers’ discarded receipts to redeem for cash rewards raises ethical questions. What are your thoughts on this trend?
