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$1.5 Million Bar-code Scheme Bilks Wal-Mart Stores
nomrniceguy writes "Two couples have been charged in a
price-switching scheme that allegedly defrauded Wal-Mart stores in 19 states of $1.5 million over the last decade.
Authorities said the scheme involved using a home computer to produce UPC bar codes for cheaper products and slipping them over the real codes on high-priced items. The suspects then allegedly sold the merchandise, or returned it for refunds or store gift cards that also were sold."
If they were rung up as lower priced items, then wouldn't it show the wrong items on the cash register/receipts? I don't understand how the cashiers didn't catch on. And how did they go about returning these items when the wrong items (and prices) were printed on the receipts?
Are you new to computers?
That weird box sitting on your desk is called a "printer". Some of these "printers" can even print "pictures".
Now look at a UPC. It's made up of black lines (the numbers are just for show) which is about the easiest thing to print in the world. Now, look in your desk drawer for "Glue".
I think you can figure it out from there. If not, this topic has been covered ad-nasuem in 2600 for about the past 10 years (or longer?). Hell, skip the computer. You can make them with a black pen if you're bored. I've done so and tested them out when I worked in retail. It's really not that tough.
returned it for refunds or store gift cards that also were sold
That's how they got caught. This was actually a fairly original idea; if they'd used it very sparingly, and only kept the items for themselves, they most likely would never have been caught at it. Most criminals' undoing is in not knowing when to stop.
Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
One would assume it would be pretty hard for your Joe Sixpack to go out and just print these things willy-nilly.
All you need is a barcode printer and some software which are publicly available for a few hundred dollars, like from these guys. Get a UPC number off a pack of chewing gum and put the sticker on a mountain bike. The hard part is finding a checker who won't notice. I can't figure out that one.
I did this when I was about 8 years old; swapped the price tag for one thing that I could afford (that was like $1) over another which I wanted (which was like $5). The sales drone didn't notice, but the guilt was enough to keep me from doing it again.
Fancier bells and whistles, but this is the same thing. It'll be interesting to see how they pulled off bilking one of the defining features of UPC codes which I didn't have to deal with: When scanned, the register should display a description of the product. The answer was probably lazy/unmotivated register drones. Some things never change.
what kind of television is this? Bebeep! oh oh its a... toaster....? huh... oh man is that a ten-speed? Bebeep!... no.. huh... tricycle... Oh.... alright a Lindows machine!!.... Bebeep!... n-no?.... i see... 5 gallon jar of pickles....
I saw the guys who did Re-code.com at 2600's 5th hope this summer in NYC. Basically you could create a barcode for any item, and print them.
Finally they closed down because of pressure from walmart and huge legal fees needed to fight them.
But they got their point across, so I could see someone doing this quite easily. Now I'm wondering how they got caught.
I think the best thing to do it go to a walmart and just sticker random items, so that random people are buying the altered items.
There's a 10 min video on Re-code.com about the case. It's worth a quick viewing.
Seems like a way to say "I didnt put the sticker there!"
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
I worked at a Wal-Mart for a while as a cashier. Our store had 4 self-checkout machines where you ring up the items yourself. One cashier was assigned to "Paystation" where people could pay with checks, and other assorted stuff the machines couldn't handle. When working at the Paystation, you were given a barcode card which when scanned would bring up an admin-like menu with price override options and other assorted "cashier" tasks. At one point, I scanned that barcode at my register, printed a receipt to show the number it represented, took that home and recreated it on my computer and printed a new version. I taped it on the back of my name tag, and it worked like a charm. Here's the scary thing: Cash Office also used a barcode for those machines to refund money, etc. They could literally empty the machine of cash with their card. If one took a picture of their card (which usually was worn around the neck in plain sight), it wouldn't be hard to recreate the bar code without knowing the numbers. Talk about fraud potential... I almost wanted to do it as a proof-of-concept, but thought that just being caught with the barcode would get me in big trouble, so I didn't end up trying.
I think the cashier would notice you paying for the plasma TV with a $5 bill. That's what differentiates dumb criminals, and the ones you don't usually find out about. You don't swap the code from a $1 item with 1 $3000 item. You take the sticker off a 17 inch lcd, and put it on a 19 inch one. I wouldn't even put the sticker on there permanently. It just has to be the first sticker the cashier sees. Once it's scanned, get rid of the evidence. Walmart is the perfect place to do this. They sell everything, and pay their people nothing, so the cashier will likely not have a clue what you are doing.
"Enterprising" students would run them thru keypunch machines and make the number negative or add a decimal point.
These machines are also the origin of the "hanging chad". Always check your input. Like the state of Florida, Walmart could have caught this by auditing returns.
It's even simpler than that. One summer about 8 years ago when I was in high school, I sat down and decoded the UPCs of a few products in an afternoon. Once you know what the codes are, it's trivial to draw your own bar codes using MS Paint. You can then print them off using any old ink-jet printer. Don't believe me? This is the page that I wrote up after figuring it all out. I made the UPC graphics on that page using just Paint. I also printed off some test barcodes using the cheapo inkjet we had, and ran them by the "price checker" thingys in the local Target. They scanned no problem.
I've wondered for years whether it would really be that easy to get away with switching UPCs just like this. I guess the answer is "pretty easy." Of course, if you get as greedy as these people did, you're obviously going to get caught before too long.
Do not read this sig.
I love that about walmart. It's because of that that I am a returning customer.
I remember when they tried to force me to use a TI graphing calculator in middle school. I used my HP for the most part, just as long as I had the TI with me the school didn't complain. But I've never had an item break as much as that TI, and each time it broke I just brough it back to Walmart. Seriously, a little bump on part of the screen and the thing would shatter. One broke when I slid the case on at an odd angle. Fuck you TI! I love you Walmart!
1) install debian
2) install a thermal label printer (the dymo 310 is nice)
3) install pbm2wxl if using dym310 (use google to locate)
4) type "apt-get install barcode"
5) run echo thebarcodenumber | barcode | lpr -Pdym310
6) when the local law enforcement agencies come knocking on your door claiming that the GNU barcode program is illegal and subversive software, RUN LIKE HELL!
The pricing on the goods can be constituted as an offer. On accepting the offer, a contract is entered. The new pricing (bar code) can be viewed as a counter-offer. If the cashier accepts, the counter-offer is accepted and a contract is entered, making it a legal sale.
Of course, ethically it is wrong, but legally, it's not done yet.
the pun is mightier than the sword
A handful of years back, in a time when my morals weren't exactly as defined as they are now, (heh) I really wanted the brand spankin new "Super Smash Bros." for Super Nintendo. Problem was, I was fresh outta coppers. Yep. Not a dime to my name. So I 'borrowed' my dad's credit card, (who I share the same name with. Rock.) and headed on down to Kmart and bought the game.
:)
Obviously all this hard work of buying video games would make anybody hungry, so I went to silence my grumbling belly meats by making a stop to the Burger King. After ordering my food and taking a seat, I began to unwrap my new Super Smash Bros video game over an 8-piece chicken tender value meal.
It is here where the clouds parted, and God himself reached down and touched me. It is here, that I calculated and measured the exact balance and weight of the Super Smash Bros cartridge in comparison to the equal amount of ketchup packets.
I took the packets and placed them neatly back in the cardboard game housing, packaging everything back up. I took the instruction manual as well, and replaced that with a good 7 or 8 napkins, folded rather nicely. Then, I went next store to Office Max, and had them shrink-wrap the game. Viola. Slap on one of them sticky-hangy-tab thingies, and you got yourself a game fresh off the shelf from behind those locked glass windows.
So, now the scary part. Time to find a differant Kmart. Sweaty and horribly nervous looking, I went inside to make the return. I claimed something to the tune of it being my birthday and that I had already owned this gift, so I wanted to return it. Everything went surprisingly smooth, except for the camera staring at my face. I still wont go back there to this day.
Now - Think about the possible following scenario for just a moment. Imagine - Your in your early teens, and you did your chores. It was a nice sunny weekend afternoon, and your dad felt like doing somethin nice for you. He remembers you going off about that new game. He buys it, brings it home to surpise you... your so excited! You guys have one of those rare but really heart felt father and son kinda hugs. Life, is perfect...
You open the box to your new game. In it, you find a small brick of ketchup packets and neatly folded napkins.
Sweet Jesus, I would give my first newborn child to a rabbid tiger just to see that facial expression.
PS: I used to work at Office Max. One day, a guy came back in after just buying a typewriter. Instead of a typewriter, he found a bag of potting soil. He was irate - I smiled. =)
This method is used to obtain competitive pricing all the time. For example, if Half Life 2 is going on sale at the beginning of the month, and Joe Retailer wants to know how much his competitors are going to charge:
Just print off the UPC code onto a sticker, and go into a competitor (like Walmart) a week before it goes on sale. Put the sticker onto another game, and ask the cashier for a price check. The scanner computer already has the pricing information in it, so the price that they are going to charge shows up on the register!
At first, I was just disgusted at these people who decide to scam the system the best they can and for as much as they can. When I saw they'd be getting 8-whatever years for this, I felt a little better.
Then I see people posting on tips how to do this more efficiently, how they have done it at Home Despot, Best Buy, and so on, and I wonder...
Are these the same people that think downloading movies and music is just fine? How are you justifying this, since every thief I know has some way to justify it.
They charge too much, therefore it is right of you to systematically lower the price via a UPC swap?
You couldn't afford it, therefore it is right of you to systematically lower the price via a UPC swap?
You wouldn't have bought it at such a high price, it is right of you to systematically lower the price via a UPC swap?
So, by stealing an item for a lower price, you're driving up the price of the rest of their inventory. You can now justify their high prices by requiring them to set the prices higher to account for loss, the loss you have created. Nice job.
Everyone has some kind of justification, I bet these criminals had some as well. They did not want to work, found the system easy to exploit, and wanted free money... what better reason is there really? Sure, they are "innocent until proven guilty" I suppose.
I'm not sure if it's the lack of morals, or just the lack of brainpower that causes such things. Self-justification of stealing is still just stealing and it makes me sick.
When I worked at REI (Camping, climbing, etc, gear), we were always told to handle the merchandise ourselves. A customer once came to my register with a large internal frame backpack, and instead of handing it to me, he just pointed the pricetag at me. I grabbed the sac out of his hands and said, "Hmmm. This seems a little heavy." At which point I opened it and found a $110 rope. They guy was totally pale and muttered, "Huh. I wander how that got it there." I asked if he wanted to buy it and he said, "no," so I rang him up for the backpack and restocked the rope.
More on topic, this was something that was part of the training. they taught us how to find fake pricetags, hidden items (carabiners in shoes, tents in backpacks, etc.), and a whole bunch of other tricky stuff. It goes to show that if you don't pay for good training up front, you'll pay for it later.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
I look at most of those posts and think of them in the same sense as posts on how to make a nuclear bomb. There are actually a lot of people who have access to a large percentage of the material as well as the technical knowledge and resources necesary to construct one. You or I may not have ready access to fisionable materials in the quantities and purety necessary, but even if you or I did, that would not make it at all likely that we would create a nuclear bomb.
Do I have the resources to do UPC label creation and swaping. What I don't already have at home I can easily pick up at a local office max, or office Depot. Possibly even at the very stores mentioned in the article.
I look at the responses earlier in the listing as "Idiots, if you are going to do this, you need to do it this way..."
If I were to decide to use UPC relabling at Best Buy to get that great new 42" LCD HDTV, I would visit first, find a manufacture with both a 42" LCD HDTV, and a 35" LCD HDTV, write down the UPC for that 35" edition, go home print up an approprieate sized copy of that to overlay the UPC on the 42" edition, then during a busy time at Best Buy, go in, put the 42" set on a cart, go stand in line, and while waiting in line discreatly overlay the UPC.
Now note I began that with 'If I were to decide..' I honestly have no interest in doing this. I may like the idea of having a 42" LCD HDTV, but I happen to have worked for the stuff I own, and I have no interest in changing that.
I don't have a justification for such an action, as I have no interest in performing the action. That doesn't mean that I can't participate in the thought experiment, or write about what I know about the topic in question.
-Rusty
You never know...