This isn't related to mystery shopping, but wanted to share a Kroger issue to watch out for. Yesterday, my mom forwarded me an email regarding a Kroger pick up confirmation. She thought it was a phishing email and was going to ignore it. After doing so many pickup shops over the years, I could tell this one was legitimate. It was 53 items for over $350 to be picked up within a couple hours at a Houston Kroger. My mom doesn't live in Texas.

I then called that Kroger and told the pickup department it was a fraudulent order and to cancel it, which they did immediately. When my mom tried to change her password, she realized the scammer had hacked her account and she couldn't log in. Fortunately, Kroger customer service was able to look up her information and reset it for her. She did not recognize the credit card that was in her digital wallet and subsequently deleted it.

I'm trying to figure out what the scam is. The criminal probably hacked my mom's account and entered a stolen credit card to purchase goods. The pickup name on it was a Nancy Gonzalez, but that was probably a fake name. Using my mom's account meant that it would be impossible to trace. Has this happened to anyone? I'm glad that we were able to cancel the order in time and restore her account, but it makes me furious and paranoid.

Wanted to share this info and encourage you to update your password to a more complex one.

Thanks for sharing. This is great info to know. Sorry you and your mom are going through all of this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2025 09:29PM by ArkLaMissshopping.

Sorry to hear about this, Mel, but relieved it turned out okay for her. It could have ended much, much worse.

About a year ago I had a string of problems with store accounts. First it was the Walmart app, which makes you save your card info, and they won't let you remove it. While I was sitting at the Walmart pu waiting for my order, someone inside the store tried to buy something on my Walmart account for $200. I had Wells Fargo replace the card, and had Walmart remove my account and all of my information from their system.

Then, the following month something similar happened with my Kroger account. There was a purchase made with my card, not at a store that I was currently shopping at. I changed my email address, and password to my Kroger account, and removed all of my payment information. I only put my card number in for individual purchases. Actually because of these two incidences, I only put my card number in for individual purchases for ALL online orders and purchases. My payment information is not saved in any apps anywhere now.

It is possible that was a legitimate order. Maybe the person entered their telephone number wrong and it was off by only a digit. Because they had nothing to gain if they were using a credit card that was NOT your mother's. No reason to use her account. They could have quickly created a new account and put that credit card on it. And they did not get the confirmation to know it was ready, your mom received the confirmation. So, it could very well be an honest mistake.

@purpleicee wrote:

It is possible that was a legitimate order. Maybe the person entered their telephone number wrong and it was off by only a digit. Because they had nothing to gain if they were using a credit card that was NOT your mother's. No reason to use her account. They could have quickly created a new account and put that credit card on it. And they did not get the confirmation to know it was ready, your mom received the confirmation. So, it could very well be an honest mistake.

That can't work unless they have all of the card info. card number, expiration, code on the back and the card owner's name, address, and zip code. There is no way to "accidentally" change 1 or 2 numbers and take someone's money.

No, I am talking about the OP's comment. If the person who placed the order forgot what email address they used and chose that "forgot" prompt and started filling out the information form on the screen...or they chose to open a new account on the APP, they could have entered the telephone number associated with their Kroger account incorrectly and the other information from that account populated and they did not notice, but went on to order. Because they did not take any funds from the OP's mom. They used another credit card. The mom only got a notification that the order was ready. And when they checked their account, another credit card was used that was not theirs.

As far as your issue @Morledzep, that is different, they used your payment card. One way around that with much less risk is to use a prepaid VISA that only has limited funds loaded on it each time for these shopping shops. I do that with a place that has had problems. I load $40.00, or so on it and place my order. If that got hacked, I would not be out a lot of money and still could report the fraud and have recourse.

purple,

I do something similar, only I just use a separate account that I was paid $100 to open at a different bank. My problem is I forget to put money in it.. So once or twice a month I send one of my MS payments to that account. It almost never has more than $100 in it. Right now it has $20, so it's not getting a lot of action. And as long as they are debit charges they are just denied rather than causing an overdraft.

Purple, I understand how that could happen during an instore shop (using another person's number), but how does that happen for an online pickup? You can't create a new account using an existing email address.