Scams

Scams

by Mike Masnick




Lego Scammer Caught In A Rut

from the diversification? dept

Swapping bar codes on products is an old trick used by scammers, but if you're going to do it, we'd suggest not always doing it on the same product. A man was arrested recently after being accused of swapping barcodes on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Legos and then reselling them on the internet. The scam isn't all that noteworthy or different, other than the guy's apparent focus on the colored building blocks. It's that focus that seems to have gotten him in trouble. Target noticed a similar problem across multiple stores having sold Legos at the wrong price, and warned other stores to be on the lookout for someone buying lots of boxes of Legos. Still, it took years to catch the guy. He apparently sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Legos over the years. It's unclear if he's been building anything with them, too, but authorities needed a 20-ton truck to cart away all the Legos in his house.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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(Flattened / Threaded)

    Nov 27th, 2005 @ 11:35pm
  • No Subject Given

    by Anonymous Coward

    Mike, Welcome back from Thanks Giving, I do hope it was well for you. Back on topic though, "LEGO" might get upset with you that you've spelled their name as "Legos" and not "Lego"... Sorry, I mean "LEGO".

    "Please -- it's LEGO, not Legos"

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Nov 28th, 2005 @ 1:12am
    • Re: No Subject Given

      by Stavrogin

      He's a loner, Anonymous Coward, a rebel. You don't want to get involved in his Legos.

      Legoslegoslegos.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    Nov 28th, 2005 @ 4:36am
  • No Subject Given

    by Aaron Friel

    "In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each, as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their locations carefully plotted on a mapping software."

    Mm... I Google Earth? Mapquest? Using Target's own web site to find store locations?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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