The bad guys are at it again, with a really simple, yet often successful, scam. The scam is setup when someone scans and prints a barcode for one item, and then pastes that barcode over the barcode for a more expensive item. At checkout, when the barcode is scanned of course it rings in as the less expensive item.
Some scammers will take it even further. They look for discarded receipts, with a high end product on it. Then, they buy that high end product, using the barcode scam. Later, they remove the fake barcode and return the item using the receipt they found. Of course during the return, since the real barcode is being used, the item is returned for the real price, and the scammer pockets the difference.
In this case, your sales people need to have at least a rough idea of what your items sell for, especially the higher priced ones. It is not a matter of knowing all the prices, but if an item comes up for $19.99, and the sales person knows that it is actually over $100.00, that will should set the bells of. Just being able to recognize that there is a large discrepancy is enough. After all, the scammer is probably not going to try to scam an item that sells for 79.99, at 75.99, but more likely for something like 14.99.
This scam brings up, yet again, how important it is for your sales people to be aware. They are, after all, your first line of defense against many types of loss.
Dave.