Stupid teen son found a lost gift card and spent some of the money, what will happen?

[yunogin]

Could honestly slap him but have refrained so far!

He's 16, usually a good boy but told me he had a lapse of judgement when he did this and only panicked afterwards.

He didn't nick the card as in grabbed it off someone, he says he found it on a bench in the town centre. I believe him as he isn't a teen delinquent. He mostly stays in his bedroom playing games, he'd only gone into town to pick up something for me from the shop.

He idiotically brought it home and purchased something for £7 on Sports Direct. He used a Sports Direct account with his name and birthday etc linked. Then immediately after he did it he became overwhelmed with panic and regret and ran downstairs with the gift card white as a sheet and told me everything. I laid into him at first about the moral and legal implications of this but he's terrified the cops will be round any second. We tried to cancel the order but you have ring Sports Direct to do that and explain why which seemed a bad idea.

He found the gift card in its sleeve with a receipt, but I've gone on to the issuers website (it's one of those high street ones that can be spent at many stores) and used the number on the card to check the balance and the owner last used it weeks ago. They clearly bought it out to spend more of it today and lost it. It's still got £70 on it so the poor sod will be looking high and low for it. I'm very ashamed of my son but I don't want an idiotic mistake landing him in court.

Apparently the company won't do anything about a stolen card unless you provide them with the number or receipt. So unless they remember the number there is nothing the owner can do which I feel awful about but as I said, I don't want DS ending up in court. I wish there was some way to return it to its rightful owner without possibly getting DS in a world of shit. Though they may have written down the number in which it will be really easy for them to trace DS as he hardly covered his tracks!

I've considered contacting the gift card issuers and explaining everything and apologizing on my sons behalf, and also saying I will get the Sports Direct order refunded to the card but will they contact the police? Shit shit shit!

There is barely enough police to stop drugs, stabbings and burglars and you think the police have the time, resources or motivation to care about £7 spent on a lost gift card. They didn't even bother attending the scene when I phoned 999 as 2 darkly clothed men broke into my neighbours Uber at the dead of night and drove off.

Don't bother asking if anyone has lost it either, everyone and their dog will say they have. Now you mention it, I think I lost a gift card the other day, could you send it me.....

Not serious... Obviously...

Everyone saying "forget about it, it's it £7" are forgetting that some poor bugger has lost a gift card with SEVENTY SEVEN POUNDS ON!!
Just not spending any more on it still means that person is £77 down and you're still holding on to a card worth £77.

It's an offence , OP. Theft by finding. Picking it up and taking it home isn't the offence. The offence is complete when you 'permanently deprive' the owner of it.
So hand it in to Police.
Or get on the local Facebook pages. Don't say how much was on there (let the person claiming it tell you what was on there) but you need to try find them.
As long as you can show you've done your upmost to find the owner then you're fine.
If the owner comes forward and can tell you how much was on there and what day they lost it, take it to a store prior to returning their card to them and ask them to top up the card with £7. (£10 if you want to be nice). They'll never know £7 was spent and then put back on.

But imagine how your son would have felt if he has lost a gift card with that much money on.
It could belong to another poor kid who was spending their birthday money or something.

If the receipt is with it, does it show if the owner paid by credit/debit card?

If yes, then contact sportsdirect and tell them as they may be able to trace the transaction and if the owner contacts them, it could be returned. If it was done in cash, they may advise returning to the store they bought it from so if the owner comes back, they can return it.

You may seem overdramatic to some but it shows you have been an honest person (and your DS) so take it as a good thing

smashstore

Well, I do believe the professional diagnosis he received at 7 years old, yes. That enough for you?

I know my son. Pigs would fly before he'd pickpocket or mug somebody. He hates any kind of confrontation.

Technically what he did is illegal. Actually spending the rest or not returning it would be immoral. When legal consequences and morality are in conflict, do what's moral and take your knocks.

The guilt and panic is a good nudge from his conscience. Nothing wrong with that. It'll evaporate when he does the right thing.

@Jamieson90 it's not rocket science.

You post that you've found a gift card in town, no more. And ask if anybody has lost one.
You say that 'owner' must message you with day it was lost, how much was on there and what the card looked like.

Easy.

I imagine mild autism is high functioning, smashstore,. Why are you being so aggressive?

Blimey .. it’s a lost gift card, he didn’t mug an old lady .
Give him a break , he’s shitting himself as it is

I bloody love Mumsnet. This is gold.

Yunogin

Please ignore the stupid comments about ASD.

I work with some students with ASD and autism and I understand exactly what you are saying.

For some perspective:
Someone found/ stole my credit card last month. They went around town for a week spending small amounts on it. (Joint card and they shopped in places we'd go: supermarkets, fastfood, etc. so we didn't notice for a week). Added up to about £200.

Our town is VERY well covered with CCTV (It's featured on those channel 5 shows where they film from the CCTV centre). The credit card statements show a trail around town with dates. If someone really wanted to, it would be very easy to find the person who used my card. But no one was interested

• bank just refunded the money with no questions asked
• we didn't even think to report to police because there's no way they'd spend the time trawling CCTV footage for this even though I'd say the person could be identified in a day: identify the person who visited the same 5 shops on x day, put image on Facebook- job done.

I doubt SD will bother tracing it

How would the gift card owner realise

1. £7 has been spent,

1. Trace the particular transaction to your son? (trust me, a. Sports Direct won’t be interested, b. they couldn’t give out the details to the gift card owner even if they were,

1. Police absolutely wont be interested... and as if the CPS will!

You are WAAYYYYYY overthinking this....

Wondering if all the pps saying it’s not illegal are the ones who were so territorial about a toddler walking on a wall - I seem to remember “If it’s not yours, don’t touch it” turning up ad nauseum.

with ASD and autism

Erm...

he's terrified the cops will be round any second

Oh op, please don't worry!!!! Current state of the country, the police done have time to deal with serious crimes, they certainly wont be sending the swat team round for £7

yunogin
There's no such thing as mild autism. You're either autistic or you're not.

Just like you're either pregnant or you're not. You can have pregnancy symptoms, such as sore boobs, nausea, weight gain, but unless you are actually pregnant you wouldn't go around saying you are, and you certainly wouldn't say you're mildly pregnant.

And yes, it is called autism spectrum disorder, because there's a whole range (spectrum) of different traits and how they affect each individual with autism is different. It is not a linear spectrum from not at all to absolutely.

Anyway, rant over.

As for your actual issue, you massively overreacted.

I lost a Harvey Nics gift card and genuinely hoped someone had found it and used it so that the money on it didn’t go to waste. I’d he’d handed it in then it’s very very unlikely it would’ve been reunited with the owner. It’s not like it has a name on it.

Well, I do believe the professional diagnosis he received at 7 years old, yes. That enough for you?

Sorry I was only asking if he was autistic or not. You may not have come across it on here but there are literally threads every other day of self diagnosed 'mild' autism. I only meant to clarify he had a diagnosis and didn't mean any angst. Really.

I know my son. Pigs would fly before he'd pickpocket or mug somebody. He hates any kind of confrontation.

I wasn't thinking that. I just wondered if he had possibly got in tow with some bad 'uns. Definitely not suggesting he was mugging anyone.

Most people I know take a photo of stuff like that in case they lose it.

I have never.... ever... heard of anyone doing this. And I worked in retail for 15 years.

I imagine mild autism is high functioning, smashstore,. Why are you being so aggressive?

I don't mean to come across as aggressive

Why can't people read?
It's not a Sports Direct gift card, you can't "take it to the shop" because it's not issued by a shop.

It's one of those high street shopping cards you can use in lots of shops.

Howtedious

ASD is autism. There's no and.

And working with it being the parent of someone with autism gives you absolutely fuck all insight into what it means to be actually autistic and how hard someone is trying so that their autism appears mild to you.

Good lord. What an overreaction all round.

No, he won’t end up in court or with a criminal record. Otherwise courts would need to run 24/7 and still wouldn’t get through it all. How ridiculous.

Just bin the gift card, donate the item to a charity box when it arrives and all move on without the melodrama.

I work with some students with ASD and autism

That's really interesting. Perhaps you could tell us the difference