Steve sent a message to J. Paul Raines – Chief Executive Officer of GameStop Corporation – Email Address that said:
My father/mother, 89/86 years of age, were victims of the "grandparent" scam. Someone called posing as an attorney, said their grandson was in jail, and if they would go to Gamestop (even gave directions) and purchase $3000 in ITunes gift cards, he could rectify the problem. They were terrified, so being hardly able to get around and both hard of hearing, they went to the store. Associate says she can only sell $2000 at a time so would have to do two transactions. First one went through, but evidently Chase sensed fraud and declined the second, sent them a fraud alert to their home phone. So, they used another for the remaining $1000.
I would ask you to get this picture, two very elderly people are in a gaming store which is geared towards young people, asking to purchase $3000 of a product that is normally bought in smaller amounts, and no one thought to question them. Even your own employees are appalled at this online, most saying that $1,000 is maximum sale without additional approval and this has red flag all over it. It is inconceivable to me that anyone would not question this sale and ask for manager assistance.
We have filed a police report and have a detective assigned. We have disputed the charges with Chase and BofA, contacted Apple and assigned a case number, and additionally the FTC and State of Tennessee Attorney General. I also contacted your customer service dept, they said would send to the DM, but I've heard nothing.
I am respectively asking that GameStop accept responsibility that the employee did not follow any protocol, was not properly trained, and should have sought additional direction on a purchase of this size to this type of customer. My parents are devastated, We are considering admitting my mother to the hospital if we can't get her to eat, she is despondent.
Thanks for reading. I hope to hear from someone.
