Fraudulent Gift Card SOP

Procedure #: HB SOP 7

Function: Employee Policies

Implementation Date: 062322

Policy/Purpose:  To prevent fraudulent gift card activity, Hillman Beer has outlined what our physical and e-gift cards should look like and how to respond to guests that may be trying to redeem.

Procedures:

1. A physical gift card must be the exact same appearance as the ones we issue.  If they look different AND do not show any value in our POS system, they are likely fraudulent.  Most of the fraudulent activity will be with e-gift cards.
2. E-gift cards are done online and allow the user to print out a copy of the gift card with a 16 digit number.  As a result, there may be attempts to recreate an e-gift card.  When being presented with a paper/e-gift card it should look like the following one below.  If it does not look like this AND does not show any value in our POS system, it is likely fraudulent.  The one exception is that there are some old Square gift cards from our old POS system that have never been redeemed.

1. If a guest presents a physical gift card or paper/e-gift card different from what is shown above AND the 16 digit number does not work, we cannot accept the gift card nor redeem by issuing another gift card without approval from the Operations Manager, COO, or Owner.  
2. If the gift card 16 digit number is not working we ask that you take the following steps:
   1. Apologize to the guest that the number is not registering in our system.
   2. Get a manager if available to research the gift card in Toast to see if they can validate the sale and amount of the gift card.
   3. If the gift card looks like below, it is an old Square gift card, and these must be confirmed with the Operations Manager, COO, or Greig Hillman BEFORE we recreate a gift card for the guest.  If we have to recreate a gift card because of an old square gift card, we must save all paperwork the guest has, staple the receipt for the new gift card issued, and submit it to the Operations Manager.

1. If a manager is not available, ask the guest if you can make a copy of the physical gift card/paper/e-gift card, and let them know you will have the manager follow up with the guest within 48 hours.
2. Get the guest’s name and phone number as well as the time of the conversation so the manager knows when the issue first occurred.

1. The guest will need to pay for their normal transaction via another payment method.  It is likely the guest may not be happy, but apologize (or have the manager come out to apologize), and assure the guest that we will follow up with them as soon as possible, and if the gift card shows as active in the system when the manager reviews, we can always reverse the transaction and debit the gift card.
   1. Thank the guest for their patience in the process