[From article]
Siras’ Dustin Ares pointed to one organized crime ring that used eBay as its clearinghouse.
This return scam involved purchasing broken electronics off the auction site and then buying new items off store shelves. “They would go to the store with a repackaged and shrink-wrapped broken item inside a new box and return it for full value.”
The clever crooks managed to rack up $2 million in profits over a year, Ares said.
[. . .]
For instance, “A guy goes around and purchases expensive items and at the same time buys into the extended service plan. Then he calls the service-plan provider and claims the items were in disrepair and asks ‘What can you do about this?’”
A refund for the service plan was executed, and according to Ares, this particular shakedown artist hit the company offering the service plan more than 200 times in two weeks—each time pocketing a couple Benjamins in an insurance settlement with little to no need to prove anything was faulty.
[. . .]
The perpetrators idled in parking lots outside various Wal-Marts and approached customers with cans of paint to ask for the customers to forfeit the cans so they can be used to collect money for their school sports teams.
“They would get the cans and bring them back to the stores but they didn’t have any paint in them,” said the source, who requested anonymity. “Instead, they filled them up with water. This happened over a dozen times before they caught on.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/19/the-insane-11-billion-scam-at-retailers-return-desks.html
12.19.14
The Insane $11 Billion Scam at Retailers’ Return Desks
M.L. Nestel
Daily Beast
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