Scam Type
Retail Business Scam
Business Name Used
Pearl de Flore
Date Reported
November 16, 2023
Postal Code
96819
Total Dollars Lost
$ 0
Scam Description
Pearlridge Mall (Mauka building) in Aiea, Hawaii. It is a shop on the second floor near Sephora. Scammer brought me inside after offering free samples, even reassured me that I don’t have to buy anything. She got my first name and she found out I was a student. The products she was using was a beauty cleanser and scrub, and she kept on asking me if I ever used skincare before while putting the product on my hand. I lied and said I only use sunscreen. She offered to use her employee voucher because she liked me as a person. And she gave me ultimatum of whether or not I’l buy it. I kept on saying that I don’t have the money, but she kept on pushing me to buy it. Qhen she was checking out the items, she asked me if I wanted to use cash or card. I said card, and used my watch to pull up my credit card. The first transaction was $0.14. It got declined, and she asked me to try again. I quickly glanced at the amount she wrote for the second transaction—it was $146.59. I quickly tried to move away from the credit card machine, but it sensed the details on my watch. I would say it was beween 6 to 12 inches from the scanner, but it still scanned anyways. Also, quickly after she put in the second transaction amount, she did not announce what the total was, and it seemed that she was quickly trying to get my watch scanned before I can react. Luckily, the second transaction got declined as well, and I quickly made an excuse to leave. She was still insistent on completing the transaction, despite me telling her that my bus is leaving in 5 minutes, and kept on saying that it will be really quick. The other guy that was working with her was at the front of the store, and he asked why I didn’t make a purchase. I made up something to quickly get away, but he still kept on talking to me. After removing myself from the situation, I threw away the samples. I have uploaded pictures of the declined second transaction, but I couldn’t get a copy of the first one.
