Retailers are advising PayPoint partners to be wary of a new energy voucher scam, with a risk of losing money in the triple digits.

The scam involves fraudulent energy vouchers that contain a paysafe barcode, and when used these can result in a value being paid out as a top up by store staff, rather than seeing the customer deposit funds onto the voucher.

Paypoint has commented that it is providing “the greatest level of protection” it can.

Doncaster retailer Mayuraa Mahee said he was told about the scam by another shop near him, and this store lost £500.

“The store processed a transaction for a £250 paysafe voucher value to be paid out as a top up, but they essentially lost £500,” he said. “The [fake] energy vouchers are made to look [very similar], but is in actual fact a paysafe barcode. There are warnings that come up on the PayPoint terminal but it’s very easy for the fraudster to distract the person serving, so it gets ignored.”

A spokesperson for PayPoint said the company is “aware of these incidents” and any retailer who suspects fraud should notify them immediately.

Mahee added: “Store owners are rarely caught out by these things, but staff are. In this instance I believe it was a relatively new member of staff. It’s vital that store owners train their teams to be aware of the different types of criminals targeting PayPoint, because PayPoint is a magnet for fraud.”

Retailers warn of new scam involving PayPoint terminals

PayPoint advise that an energy voucher will never exceed £100 and should never be given as cash.

“Telling team members that they can’t process a transaction above a certain value without approval is a solid safeguard generally in a convenience store,” Mahee added. “Never processing a transaction based on a request from someone calling the store is another – often people will pretend to be from PayPoint or another service to make the cashier carry out PayPoint voucher transactions and then read out voucher codes over the phone.”

A spokesperson for PayPoint continued: “As fraud attempts evolve and become more sophisticated, our systems and processes are adapted to offer those in our network the greatest level of protection we can provide.

“We believe in continual investment in the robustness of our technology. We offer a package of comprehensive training for all our retailer partners on how to spot, report and prevent falling victim to fraud. There are also extensive training materials on our retailer website to help them with this and as well as useful and regular operational bulletins for more help and support. 

“We all need to remain watchful and will continue to work with retailers to clamp down on fraudulent activity to protect them and their customers.

“We encourage retailers to remind their staff to stay aware, take extra care and be vigilant when processing any energy vouchers.”

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