The owner of BP Wavecrest garage in Strandfontein says he fired 10 “rogue” petrol attendants after they allegedly used customers’ Pick n Pay Smart Shopper cards and banked the points for themselves.
According to Dev Naidoo, one petrol jockey managed to swipe a whopping R50,000 worth of points.
“They were rigging the Smart Shopper machine and they thought they were going to get away with it, but they didn’t realise that Pick n Pay recorded every transaction that went through,” he said.
“They didn’t understand that when they punched in their code, their name popped up, then BP sent me 72 pages of these things.
“Some of them swiped continually ... R6,000 at a time, every half an hour,” he said.
Naidoo says that the petrol attendants used stolen cards or those that customers left behind, as well as their own family cards, to collect the points.
“Every garage has a system that can backtrack transactions and we never had someone swipe for R8,000 (to pay),” Naidoo explains.
“Also, if it was a mistake, then you would have learnt from the first time but not every time,” he said.
One of the fired petrol attendants, who asked to remain anonymous, has refuted the allegations.
The 54-year-old man, who was employed at the garage for over 10 years, tells the Daily Voice that he only had one goal at work – to provide for his family.
“I’m an honest man, I will never commit fraud, I will never steal, I will never do such a thing,” the man claimed.
“I have a child I am working for.”
He says the only time he would not swipe a Smart Shopper card was when the machines were off-line, but then he would ask customers to return later to swipe so that they didn’t lose the points.
“I know I didn’t do it, there wasn’t even an investigation.
“All I want is an apology, because it’s a knock to your reputation and credibility. I want my name cleared,” the man adds.
But, Naidoo insists he won’t lie to protect people.
“We mustn’t protect criminals and they are a bunch of criminals.
“The bottom line is it is fraud. They had no excuse to steal, they earned a minimum R9,000 per month,” he said.
Naidoo reckons that he still had the decency not to open a fraud case against the fired workers.
Pick n Pay spokesperson Janine Caradonna was unable to comment at the time of publishing.
Daily Voice