beauty

Shanae Arias shared a photo of her $94 makeup voucher to Facebook. Minutes later, it was stolen.

In need of some quick cash ahead of an upcoming trip to Bali, Shanae Arias decided to sell her makeup gift voucher via Facebook. She took a couple of quick snaps, uploaded them to a closed makeup enthusiast page, and waited.

But within a matter of minutes, the entire $94 value was stolen.

Arias had made a simple but costly mistake. Her pictures included the barcode on the back of the Mecca gift card – providing the thief with everything they needed to make a purchase online.

Now the Perth woman has spoken out to shame the opportunistic crim.

“I want the thief to see the face of the person that they stole from,” she told The Daily Mail.

 

Arias realised her mistake when several members of the closed Makeup Junkies Perth group warned her about the consequences of making the barcode visible.

 

One of the images Shanae uploaded. Image: Facebook via The Daily Mail.

She quickly deleted the pictures. But it was too late. When she logged on to check the balance, it read "this voucher has no available funds".

"To think that someone could do that makes me sick to my stomach. They have practically stolen from me and I feel horrid," Arias told WA Today.

ADVERTISEMENT

Arias says the group's admin is being very supportive and is trying to flush out the person responsible, but with over 16,000 members the chances are grim.

The police, meanwhile, weren't anywhere near as helpful when she attempted to file a report.

"They pretty much told me that they're not going to do anything about it because I was the idiot that posted it online," she told The Daily Mail, "they told me to try get information from customer services."

Arias heeded their advice, but Mecca, too, was unable to assist.

'They were very sincere, but told me that, yes, the voucher had been used but there was nothing they could do about it," she said.

"I asked if they could cancel the order or give me any information about the person so that I could give it to the police, and no, they could [not] do anything.

"After all that I had to leave for Bali and couldn't do anything much further."

Consider it a warning, girls and boys.