Back in the day when the economy was not as bad as it is now, nobody went shopping and begged to scrutinize the shopping receipt, which is usually in tiny, faintly lettered print.

However, like the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention, hardship not only makes people mindful of their spending, but it also opens their eyes to anyone who wants to gain undue access to their money.

That is exactly the genesis of a new battle that is now underway in almost every supermarket, especially in big malls.

With the knowledge that people hardly give a second look at the supermarket bills, some attendants capitalize on the situation to perpetrate billing scams.

It was discovered that though many people no longer have the resources to go shopping in big supermarkets, the few who are still shopping are now very observant of what the figures on their receipts are.

This act has made many realize how some attendants extort them by padding their bills.

Mrs. Ranti Adebumi, a banker, said: “I visited a supermarket. After paying for my goods, I checked the receipt and was still not comfortable with the cost of the goods.

“On getting to the entrance, I asked the security guard to help count the number of things I bought.

“On doing that, we discovered that while the items were three, the cashier had filled five, and billed me for the same. I returned it to her, and she asked me to pick the remaining two. She didn’t even feel remorse or apologize.

“On getting home, I did a cross-check on everything I bought and discovered she had also added the bill of one or two pieces of things I never bought. It was then that I knew it was extortion, not a mistake.

“Since then, I have always taken my time to carry out a thorough check of my goods and receipts before leaving a shopping mall.”

Mr. Victor Edemode, a lecturer, said: “I experienced such at a shopping mall in Benin. They calculated N200,000 for what I bought. I was surprised when I first heard the price because I didn’t budget such spending.

“I paid and left. The next day I tried arranging what I bought and went through the receipt, which was unusual for me. I discovered that the cashier doubled everything. I went back that day to collect my balance of almost N40,000. I even gave the cashier a tip the previous day.

“A friend later told me that such scams have been in vogue a long time, but only been noticed now due to the bad economic situation”

Mrs. Shalewa Obadara, who had worked as an attendant in a few supermarkets, explained how these cashiers ended up with the money extorted.

According to her “It is an arrangement between them and the manager. It is not a new scam. “It has been happening. People who feel big and shy are usually their victims.

“But the current state of the economy is beginning to open shoppers’ eyes.

“When you enter the barcode of a product into the computer, if the item is one, you don’t have to put a quantity there because the system automatically registers it as one product. So editing it to two or three is not a mistake

“A stock notification on products will be done to retrieve the excess. This same style of extortion is done by fuel attendants in fuel stations.” (Vanguard)

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