Bill W:
Chad G:
Story Idea #037 – Wendy’s Receipt-Rewards Lockout: Could Smarter Fraud Screening Protect Customers Without Treating Them Like Crooks?
An app review described a Wendy’s customer who tried to submit a receipt for missed rewards points, was locked out, waited the stated period and still could not proceed. Wendy’s response, according to our research notes, focused on the submission rule rather than the possibility that the rule itself might be the problem.
The likely fraud concern is understandable: people could collect discarded receipts and claim points they did not earn. The question is whether a blanket restriction is the best answer. Transaction identifiers, time, store, amount, duplicate claims and account history could potentially be used to screen normal claims automatically and send unusual ones for further verification.
We want to ask Wendy’s what abuse the rule is designed to prevent, how often legitimate customers are caught, and whether more targeted fraud detection has been considered. A fallback could be human or in-store verification rather than an automatic lockout.
The larger principle is worth testing well beyond fast food: good fraud prevention should put most of the friction on suspicious activity, not on every ordinary customer.
Curious about the raw brainstorming behind this article?
