Slashdot Mirror


Barcode Scam Redux - Target's $4.99 iPod

abscondment writes "Nearly a year ago, two couples were charged with scamming WalMart for nearly $1.5 Million by creating custom barcodes with reduced prices. You'd think that in the intervening months, other companies would guard against such shenanigans - but today we see that Target just caught a scammer buying iPods for $4.99! The 19 year old used BarCode Magic to create fake barcodes, buying expensive electronics suspiciously low prices. Personally, I would have gone for a less blatant discount, or refrained from visiting the same store so soon afterwards."

26 of 1,014 comments (clear)

  1. Salt & Vinegar iPod by JonathanR · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a bit obvious when the iPod you are about to buy rings up as a packet of Salt'n'Vinegar Crisps

  2. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Increase for sure, I'm going to try this tomorrow morning.

    Don't mod this funny.

  3. From the article: by dirtsurfer · · Score: 5, Funny
    "I will NEVER EVER DO THIS EVER AGAIN and I am once more terribly sorry," Baldino wrote in a statement for police. "Please let me go for I am terribly sorry!!! I'm only a kid! Help me out. I just want to go home. I did this not knowing of the serious penalty that lies behind it. Please! Please! Please!"


    Oh. Well, in that case, off you go.
  4. The answer lies elsewhere on Slashdot by Reaperducer · · Score: 4, Funny

    You'd think that in the intervening months, other companies would guard against such shenanigans

    They're working on it. It's called RFID. Soon only people with tinfoil hats will be able to shoplift.

    --
    -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
  5. "i just want to go to bed" by chicagotypewriter · · Score: 4, Funny

    In a follow-up statement to police, he wrote: "I am extremely sad now, and I just want to go to bed," he wrote. "Please let me sleep in my own bed tonight."

    Well if you put it that way, sure, hop right out of jail and into your comfy bed.

  6. Not as smart as they think... by kefoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    This reminds me of my days as a pizza restaurant shift manager. A customer who thought he was brilliant cut out one of our logos from an ad and taped it onto a competitor's coupon. The delivery driver didn't recognize the coupon, and when he saw the tape he peeled it off in front of the customer who, of course, pleaded ignorance.

  7. Re:Haha hilarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's the only means by which they can envision getting any. /predictable

  8. Apple are too expensive! by skingers6894 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can get an iRiver for $4.75 and it does OGG as well!

  9. Dear Slashdot by Comatose51 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Dear Slashdot readers,

    We at Target would like to thank all of you for publicize this story, but more importantly helping us stop these scams by turning Barcode Magic's web server into a pile molten metal. As you are all surely aware, a site that allows users to print up barcodes is up to no good and deserve to be "Slashdotted", to use the common parlance of our times. We thank you for your vigilante justice. Consider it as a service to all the shoppers at Target. The prevention of future scams will result in savings passed onto the our shoppers, and not into the pocket of our executives.

    Sincerely, Target "Walmart, without all the Lower Class"

    --
    EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
  10. Office Space by TubeSteak · · Score: 2, Funny
    Office Space
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/

    JUDGE
    And now the sentence for these heinous crimes committed against Initech.

    I hereby sentence you, Michael Bolton and Samir Na...Ananajibad...to a term of no less than four years in federal-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison.

    Peter Gibbons, you've lead a trite and meaningless life. And you're a very bad person.
    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  11. Big fucking deal! by Seumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't see what the big deal is. A five year old could so this. In fact, as a five year old 23 years ago - I *DID* do this.

    I wanted one toy really bad and knew my mom wouldn't buy it for me, so I switched the price (it wasn't a barcode back then, of course) and convinced my mom to get it for me. It caused so many troubles for the people at the cash register that they eventually gave up trying to figure out why the price and item didn't match each other and felt bad for taking up so much of our time with their screwups that they just GAVE it to me and let us walk out.

    Being a little kid kicks so much ass because nobody ever suspects what a criminal little fuck you are.

  12. Re:That depends by carlislematthew · · Score: 2, Funny
    My own personal favorite:

    PEACE, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

  13. Re:Class 5 felony by Bellum+Aeternus · · Score: 3, Funny
    Ouch, ... that's gonna leave a mark...

    This aint Singapore you know? ^_^

    --
    - I voted for Nintendo and against Bush
  14. Can I get a Porsche? by Master+of+Transhuman · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...for $1.99 this way?

    Jesus, an iPod for $4.99! Somebody's an idiot - and I'd say both the kid and whoever actually rang up a sale for this price qualify.

    --
    Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
  15. Re:You're right about not caring! by the_humeister · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nice slippery slope there... *clunk*

  16. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Funny

    Having an intelligent chunk of meat there to reference everyone's receipt to their items.

    So you're suggesting a steak-out?

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  17. Bartering? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seems to me that printing your own barcodes for goods is just a form of bartering. If the store is willing to accept your revised price offer, the sale is done.

  18. ALL OF YOU ARE WRONG. by coolGuyZak · · Score: 2, Funny

    The submitter was obviously trying to get the kid to do this again, so he could post the dupe!

  19. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny
    they are doing everything they can to minimize the losses -- all the way to zero.

    Only to zero? If they were creative, they'd have a few store pickpockets on the floor--they'd soon be showing a profit in the security dept!

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  20. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by Disposable+Rob · · Score: 2, Funny

    "No, you don't" in my best "don't screw with me, I'm psycho" voice. With that, she looked like she was about to burst into tears, which leads me to believe that they don't get too many people that refuse their request Heh. This sounds like an excerpt from a really bad piece of fiction. Like Richard Marcinko's Rogue Warrior in Task Force Wal-Mart

  21. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by rossz · · Score: 4, Funny

    So what's the pay to work at Victoria's Secret?

    I think I can swing about $10/hour. I'm not sure I can afford to pay more without cutting back my hours severely.

    --
    -- Will program for bandwidth
  22. Re:My Rights Online? by Legion303 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm still waiting for user #97902 to post so I can call him/her a newbie.

  23. Govt steals every day.... so? by cheekyboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Every day, the govt takes 35% of my money without asking, they just DO IT. If I dont agree, its 49%.

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  24. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by chefren · · Score: 2, Funny

    You have to be proven guilty. Who the hell is going to do that?

  25. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by moonbender · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apparently people around are shot, get run over, etc? Did you by any chance recently win the lottery with the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42? If so, avoid planes to and from Australia. Call it a hunch.

    --
    Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
  26. Re:The crime is in getting caught... by psyon1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I always preferred just ripping the anti-theft stickers off, and throwing them on the floor for people step on.