Imposter claims lost phone, card

A supermarket has apologised after handing over a lost phone and credit card to a man who falsely claimed they were his.

Mariana Opatowski lost the phone and card in Pak’nSave at Sylvia Park mall on Sunday about 3pm.

She immediately retraced her steps but could not find the lost items.

She spoke to a staff member who had found her phone and handed it to the customer service desk, but when Opatowski asked at the desk, she learned the phone and the credit card in the phone cover were gone.

An unidentified man had asked if a black phone and credit card had been handed in, and they were given to him without a check being made against Opatowski’s clearly female name on the card.

Opatowski, a doctor, went straight to her bank and cancelled the card, but already $33 had been spent at a nearby service station.

She is upset at the loss of the phone and the invasion of her privacy.

“I had some memories in the phone that I won’t be able to recover.”

A supermarket spokeswoman said it could have handled the situation differently and staff had been briefed on the proper processes to follow.

She said the phone was handed in by a trolley team member.

“Shortly after, a man in his late 20s-early 30s came to the customer service desk and asked if a phone had been handed in. He was very particular about the phone’s appearance and that it had a card attached.

“This persuaded the staff member that it did indeed belong to him.”