Police charge two Tennessee couples in a scheme to use bogus bar codes at hundreds of stores in 19 states.
In a scheme that leveraged a little technology but relied on inattentive cashiers, Tennessee authorities have arrested two couples on charges that they used bogus bar codes to steal at least $1.5 million from hundreds of stores—some belonging to Wal-Mart—in 19 states. The group is slated to appear in court Wednesday.
Although the accused are said to have spent a lot of time and effort organizing colleagues in various parts of the country, the technology portion of their scheme was quite simple. They are accused of visiting a retailer and purchasing a low-priced item. The group would then scan the bar codes and simply print out duplicate bar codes, said Thomas Dean, the assistant Sumner County (Tennessee) district attorney who is assigned to the case.
The accused—Michael Poore, 29, and Julie Marie Simmons, 35, also known as Julie Poore; and Dewey Howerton, 39, and Laura Howerton, 39—would then go back to the store, tape the duplicate bar code on a higher-priced item and purchase the more expensive item at the lower scanned price, Dean said in an eWEEK.com interview.
One of the accused, according to the police complaint, would then remove the bogus tag and try to return the item to the store for the full purchase price. Instead of cash, the defendants would often ask for gift cards, Dean said. “Wal-Mart will more quickly put it on a gift card than hand you cash,” he said.
Source: eWeek
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