Money back scam netted £2,000 for store worker

A SUPERMARKET worker made more than £2,000 by cashing in on an offer customers had not taken up.

Nathan Preece, aged 23, collected receipts which had been left by Asda customers and checked if they were eligible for a refund under a scheme the supermarket was running.

As part of their "Price back Guarantee" Asda customers are given a unique code on their receipt.

They can then enter it via the supermarket's website, and if the supermarket calculates the items could have been bought for 10 per cent cheaper elsewhere they will give customers the difference.

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Swansea Magistrates' Court heard that Preece, who worked on a customer service till, would collect abandoned receipts and check if they were eligible for the scheme once he returned home.

If they were, Preece would then take them back to his workplace in the Gorseinon store and cash them in.

He then added the amounts to a gift card, and admitted racking up £2,011 between May 2011 and June 2012.

Preece, of Ffynnon Wen, Clydach, also admitted fraud by false representation and a second charge of possessing an article, namely a gift card, for use in a fraud.

Hayley Davies, prosecuting at Swansea Magistrates' Court, said: "He (Preece) noticed receipts people weren't claiming themselves and he would use them to put on to a gift card."

She said he had committed "multiple frauds" but it was unclear how many times he had taken receipts.

Preece, who is already subject to a suspended sentence for a separate offence, will next appear at court on October 25.

A spokeswoman for Asda said: "Our comment is that as a matter of principle we don't discuss the circumstances of individual colleagues."