Hot Deals at Home Depot and Lowe's

[Banana]

. . . but illegal

Posted on Thu, Dec. 04, 2003

Secret Service makes arrests in Home Depot, Lowe's scam

HARRY R. WEBER
Associated Press

ATLANTA - Secret Service agents arrested three suspects Thursday in a high-tech scam at Home Depot and Lowe's stores throughout the South in which thieves used counterfeited bar codes to defraud the home improvement giants of $150,000 in merchandise.

David Oliver, 34, of Hampton, Ga., his wife Mindy Oliver, 38, and Marcus Abercombie, 33, of Duluth, Ga., were arrested for allegedly stealing bar codes from cheaper items and affixing them to high-end rugs at Home Depot and Lowe's stores in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The suspects would then proceed through the checkout lines and walk away with rugs worth hundreds of dollars for $29 each, police said.

Investigators say the three would return the rugs at other Home Depot and Lowe's stores for a refund. In Home Depot's case, the store routinely gives vouchers for a store credit in the amount of the item rather than a cash refund. The thieves would take the vouchers and sell them on the Internet auction site eBay, the agents said.

Federal prosecutors and Secret Service officials planned to release more information Thursday afternoon.

Atlanta-based Home Depot is the nation's largest home improvement store chain. Wilkesboro, N.C.-based Lowe's, with about half as many stores, is the nation's second-largest home improvement chain.

Authorities are investigating at least a half-dozen other people in connection with the scheme.

"The Home Depot realizes the significant impact this kind of crime has on business in general," said a statement released by Mike Lamb, a loss-prevention executive with the company. "We have put into place the necessary resources, both people and technology, to combat incidents like the one that just occurred."

A spokesman for Home Depot would not elaborate on what those changes would be, saying any details released to the public could help thieves.

This is only slightly more illegal than some of the hot deals over in the HD forum . . .

 

[minendo]

We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

 

[Banana]

Originally posted by: minendo
We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

LOL--someone noticed?! Was she arrested?

(Not to be rude, but the fact that she was fat is irrelevant?)

 

[EvilYoda]

how would an employee not realize that they're getting ripped off? Glad that they got caught...and heh, his last name is Abercrombie.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: 1YellowPeril

Originally posted by: minendo
We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

LOL--someone noticed?! Was she arrested?

(Not to be rude, but the fact that she was fat is irrelevant?)

No, I believe the fat part is totally relevant to his story.

KK

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: minendo
We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

Did she get arrested?

 

[Shelly21]

Originally posted by: minendo
We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

You are anti-lipid.

 

[Analog]

where did they get that idea????????????

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
how would an employee not realize that they're getting ripped off? Glad that they got caught...and heh, his last name is Abercrombie.

They took the tag off of a cheap rug and put it on an expensive rug. All the checkout cared was that it rang up as a rug.
Now if you pulled a UPC off of a pack of lightbulbs and tried to put it on a bandsaw, I bet somebody would've noticed

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: Shelly21

Originally posted by: minendo
We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

You are anti-lipid.

No, I am anti fatass slob with no self-control. For those asking, she was arrested on the spot and served some time since she was also video taped doing the same thing at other stores in town. It was interesting because social services had to come and take her kids while fatty was being arrested.

 

[MegaloManiaK]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
how would an employee not realize that they're getting ripped off? Glad that they got caught...and heh, his last name is Abercrombie.

Well hopefully they put UPC's from cheap rugs on the expensive one, so it rang up as a 29$ rug and not a 29$ drill bit.

In the case of the lady and the printer cartridge she wasn't smart enough to replace it with a similar item.

However one would think they probably got caught for selling the vouchers, what kind of a moron does that on Ebay? just asking to get caught IMO.

 

[Shelly21]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: Shelly21

Originally posted by: minendo
We had some fat lady try to do that with a $500 printer at best buy while i worked there. She put a $35 ink cartridge upc on there.

You are anti-lipid.

No, I am anti fatass slob with no self-control. For those asking, she was arrested on the spot and served some time since she was also video taped doing the same thing at other stores in town. It was interesting because social services had to come and take her kids while fatty was being arrested.

I meant to said anti-lipite...that sounds better.

They need to learn about the wonder of crack, she'd loose that weight.

 

[Shelly21]

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