Secret Service makes arrests in Home Depot, Lowes scam

<p>Secret Service agents arrested three suspects Thursday in a high-tech scam at Home Depot and Lowes stores throughout the South in which thieves used bar codes to defraud the home improvement giants of $150,000 in merchandise.</p><p>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 Lowes stores in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.</p><p>The suspects would then proceed through the checkout lines and walk away with rugs worth hundreds of dollars for $29 each, police said.</p><p>Investigators say the three would return the rugs at other Home Depot and Lowes stores for a refund. In Home Depots case, when people return items without receipts the store routinely gives vouchers in the form of a gift card for a store credit in the amount of the item rather than a cash refund.</p><p>The thieves would take the vouchers and sell them on the Internet auction site eBay or through a pawn shop run by Abercrombie, the agents said. They would also buy items with the gift card vouchers, including refrigerators, faucets and other household goods, and sell those items on eBay.</p><p>The three are charged with conspiracy as well as possession and trafficking of the gift card vouchers.</p><p>Investigators say computers, gift card vouchers and other items have been seized from the suspects. The total amount of fraudulent transactions could reach much higher than $150,000, authorities said.</p><p>Officials warned that anyone else who would attempt a similar scheme will be caught.</p><p>We are very good at what we do. If you commit these type of crimes we will catch you and we will prosecute you, said William S. Duffey Jr., the U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia.</p><p>David Oliver has criminal convictions for burglary, forgery, credit card and bank fraud, records show. Mindy Oliver has been convicted of shoplifting and claiming fraudulent refunds, records show. They are both unemployed.</p><p>Atlanta-based Home Depot is the nations largest home improvement store chain. Wilkesboro, N.C.-based Lowes, with about half as many stores, is the nations second-largest home improvement chain.</p><p>Authorities are investigating at least a half-dozen other people in connection with the scheme.</p><p>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.</p><p>A spokesman for Home Depot would not elaborate on what those changes would be, saying any details released to the public could help thieves.</p><p>In June, Home Depot learned of the scheme when an employee noticed numerous rugs were being purchased for $29 a piece when they looked more expensive, authorities said. In August, the crimes were reported to the Secret Service, which specializes in electronic crimes.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2864d90)</p><p>HASH(0x2864e14)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/12/181980