Stem Swag owner Gary Guerin says a theft from the Phoenix florist’s business accounts in October cost more than $126,000 and left the nine-year-old flower and event business struggling to cover basic expenses. He says he borrowed money to keep staff paid after the loss, which came as the shop was completing its busiest month ever.
Guerin told FOX 10 Phoenix that someone accessed Stem Swag’s accounts in October and removed more than $126,000 within a few days. The shop had just completed more than 114 events across the Valley in 30 days, a record for the business, he said.
The loss forced Guerin to borrow money for immediate expenses. “I had to take out a loan to cover payroll and to pay my bills this month,” he told the station. He said the business is short on both time and money as it tries to recover.
Stripe Account At The Center Of The Dispute
Guerin said the missing funds flowed through Stem Swag’s Stripe account, which the shop uses to process invoices for event and floral clients. He described the company’s communications with the payment processor as frustrating, saying he had received repeated notices that the issue was escalated without seeing progress.
FOX 10 Phoenix reported that its attempts to reach Stripe for comment received no immediate response. Guerin said he also contacted local law enforcement and the FBI in hopes of recovering the money.
Wider Questions About Payment-Platform Security
Separate cybersecurity reporting has described exposed Stripe merchant credentials, but the reports do not connect those incidents to Stem Swag. Cybersecurity News reported that a roughly 35GB dataset associated with 659 merchant accounts and about 688,000 people was posted on a data-trading forum on August 18. The outlet said the findings did not indicate that Stripe’s own systems had been breached.
Cybernews separately reported a threat actor’s claim to offer access to a dataset allegedly linked to Stripe customers. Researchers said it was unclear whether the alleged incident involved Stripe’s core systems or exposed customer API keys; compromised secret keys can provide account access, with capabilities depending on their permissions.
Account-compromise risks for small businesses
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center says business email compromise scams target businesses from small local firms to large corporations. The agency reported a 9% increase in identified global exposed losses between December 2022 and December 2023; those figures do not establish how Stem Swag’s account was accessed. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center In a separate analysis of SSO-provider logs, Verizon Business reported that credential stuffing accounted for about 12% of authentication attempts at small organizations. That broader finding likewise does not identify the cause of the reported loss at Stem Swag.
Guerin said he hopes sharing Stem Swag’s experience will warn other small businesses about the risks of handling money online. He said he intends to do what he can to protect his team and other Arizona small-business owners. For now, the shop is relying on borrowed money while it waits to learn whether any of the funds can be recovered.
Guerin said he hopes sharing Stem Swag's experience will serve as a warning to other small businesses about the risks of handling money online. He said he intends to do everything within his power to protect his own team and other Arizona small-business owners going forward. For now, the shop is trying to stay afloat on borrowed money while it waits to see whether any of the missing funds can be recovered.
