Fraudulent credit card sign-ups have taken place in some Canadian grocery stores
A breaking story from CBC’s Go Public investigative journalism team has shone a light on the small but alarming number of instances in which customers shopping at Loblaw Companies grocery stores have been unknowingly signed up for President’s Choice credit cards.
Loblaw is the parent company of PC Financial, a banking organization that operates without branches and has a prominent partnership with Loblaw stores. PC Financial produces credit cards that allow users to accumulate points for grocery purchases, among other benefits.
It also produces PC Plus cards, which are part of a loyalty rewards program that features an app of the same name. When Waterloo resident Luna Khirfan was approached while shopping in a Loblaws store and told she had been randomly selected to receive thousands of PC points, she assumed it was as part of that program. However, the employee she spoke with ended up scanning her driver’s license and signed her up without consent for a PC credit card. Erin Arnold had a similar experience at a Vancouver No Frills location (which is also part of the Loblaw brand).
While this type of activity has been taking place in Loblaw stores, it has actually been mostly carried out by representatives of a separate company. PC Financial contracts workers from SDI Marketing to sign people up for credit cards in stores, and they receive a commission for every individual that opts for a card.
But Go Public’s investigation has revealed that some of these SDI employees have been posing as Loblaw employees, and in some cases, have lied directly to customers when they ask whether or not these pitches are credit card-related.
PC Financial’s Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs & Communications Lana Gogas released a statement regarding the fraudulent sign-ups. “Every single rep is trained to follow strict security and service protocols with no exception,” writes Gogas. “The activities you highlight are disappointing and we take them seriously. We investigated [Khirfan’s] complaint immediately, satisfied her within hours and took action resulting in the representative in question leaving our business.”
From a personal finance perspective, this type of situation can have critical consequences. Getting another credit card could potentially lower a credit score and prevent someone from qualifying for a certain loan or mortgage. Keep an eye out for fraudulent practices and report them if you see them occur.