Gift return season also means increase in fraud

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Malls were expected to be busy Wednesday as it's the biggest day of the year for store returns.

Retailers are expecting some of those returns to be fraudulent.

Nearly all retailers polled in a recent National Retail Federation survey say they've had stolen merchandise returned in the last year.  Retailers say they've found about 4.6% of all holiday returns to be fraudulent.

The General Manager at Sears at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield told 22News that they have taken steps to try and prevent it.

“We need to verify the identity of the person making the returns, so that kind of helps safe check that someone is not making numerous returns day after day. We can see it comes up, red flags in our system,” Townsend said.

Return fraud can be everything from returning stolen merchandise for cash or credit, to returning something you have worn and never intended to keep.