[tehwebguy]

If you are banned from returning merchandise to Amazon, Home Depot, CVS, Sephora, Dick’s, JCPenney, Victoria’s Secret or Best Buy you are likely banned from doing returns by all of them.

They are all using a third party called The Retail Equation.

[onelovetwo]

How would they know who you are, if you're paying cash or not using the same card?

[ceejayoz]

If you're doing a return on a cash transaction, a lot of stores will ask for ID.

https://www.theretailequation.com/frequently-asked-questions...

> How does the system work?

> When a consumer wants to make a return, a retailer will scan the original sales transaction receipt and/or collect consumer identification (in certain regions that may be the individual’s driver’s license or government-issued ID card) to make an identification of the person and his/her unique return behavior.

[jackson1442]

Most ask for photo ID when you do a return.

[EGreg]

This is why it's good for hackers to bootstrap other identities over the years. You never know when they come in handy.

(Note: I have not done this. Or have I? Well, no I haven't, but if I had you wouldn't know about it.)

It's one of the most interesting "careful" projects you can do. Something like "Satoshi Nakamoto" can release software to change the world, but you can compare their style of writing to the short list of crypto researchers whose identities are known. Similarly with JK Rowling's book released under a pseudonym. It's very hard not to slip up and have your identities connected. However, in a world where everyone is supposed to have just one identity, and present this ID to communicate or transact on a given network, and where all databases are interconnected, the only way to preserve anonymity would be to hijack someone else's identity temporarily (such as making a call from a person's phone, or having a homeless person go buy a prepaid phone for you). Sometimes people swap identities voluntarily ... such as with bitcoin mixers or when you swap DNA samples before sending them back to 23andme and other test centers (who btw keep your DNA for the government and all kinds of things). But the risk is that you can be held responsible for something someone else did, with laundered bitcoins (civil forfeiture) or some physical crime (DNA analysis might indicate it's you).

I wrote this 8 years ago: https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=114&cpage=553?p=114&cpage=553

[hnbroseph]

i suppose it depends on the details, but if you're asked for state-issued identification when processing a return, and you present a falsified document that purports to be state-issued, that's a almost certainly a crime. (even the creation of such a falsified document is likely a crime.)

[PeterisP]

I presume that the parent post refers not to forged documents but to obtaining legitimate identification under a different name/alias - which is generally allowed in common law countries, where you can choose and use any name you wish, as long as you are not trying to defraud someone (e.g. here's a case example from Massachusets http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/320/320mass448.html "If acting for an honest purpose, one may lawfully use a name other than his legal name without procuring a change of name").

The question there is whether avoiding a ban on returns would count as a honest purpose; arguably it would not. A standard example for inappropriate name change is changing the name to avoid seekers of debt repayment using the previous name, this seems similar in intent.

[chii]

avoiding a ban on returns should certainly be considered fraudulant - you're banned by the store's policy, which you would have agreed to when purchasing.