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SAP VP Arrested In False Barcode Scheme
redletterdave writes "With barcode scanning being so commonplace, nothing seemed out of the ordinary when Thomas Langenbach, the vice president of SAP, was found scanning boxes upon boxes of Lego toys before purchasing them. Little did anyone know, the 47-year-old Silicon Valley executive was actually engaged in a giant scam. Langenbach would visit several Target stores and cover the store's barcodes with his own, so when he would bring the boxes up to the register, Langenbach would pay a heavily-discounted price. For example, this tag swapping allowed him to buy a Millennium Falcon box of Legos worth $279 for just $49. Once he bought the discounted Lego boxes, the SAP executive would take to eBay (under the name 'tomsbrickyard') and sell the items. Langenbach reportedly sold more than 2,000 items on eBay, raking in about $30,000. He was finally caught by Target security on May 8, and he was arraigned on Tuesday on four counts of burglary."
They probably figured someone at the store blew it.
One time we hauled a pallet's load worth of Jones soda out of our local sams club. They were apparently discontinuing carrying it (it hasn't reappeared in the 3 years since). I think they'd *tried* to price it at 12-something (12.38?) per 12 pack. They instead managed to fat-finger it at 2.38 per 12 pack.
We saw it, said, "no possible way." Took it to a scanner, yep 2.38. Took one up to a cashier, "can you price check this?" "2.38" "Seems odd" "That's what the computer says" "Okay, I'll be back" -- and I was, with their whole stock of it.
I don't remember what our total bill was that time, but we bought them out. We had a ziggurat of soda, waist high, in our garage for months... maybe over a year. It was awesome. 20 friends over for BBQ? Bust out the Jones!
Mostly its too much trust in the machine.
Slashdot Patriotism: We Support our Dupes!
We have a grossly overpriced product with strange distribution rules. Sounds kinda like big media...
Yes, I know that digital 'piracy' isn't a zero sum game. I also understand that Lego isn't nearly as evil as big media. Still, it's interesting to watch as illegal forces outside the 'standard' market work in ways that undermine the inflated Lego price structure.
After a while, I doubt they even notice what it was they rung up. Scan, bag, repeat x N. Total, swipe, next. Try that for five or six 8-hour days in a row, for hundreds of customers, then see how much you notice or care about the merchandise.
I sure hope that's not true. If so, then buying all those boxes of XL condoms from that cute cashier at the drug store was a total waste of money?
What I find funny is the irony of the copyright notice in the front of the bibles and hymnals. Jesus says "Spread the Good News!" The United Methodist Publishing Company says "No part of this may be reproduced without our permission." It's actually on the very first page with any significant text, before any of the scripture itself.
Man that's going to chafe....
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
If you don't like fancy bibles, you should try your local Bible Factory Outlet. Their stuff is real basic. You know their motto: "Where Jesus Saves, and You can Too!".
This guy Sells SAP how much more revenge upon the world could you possibly desire?
they'll simply weigh your cart and charge you a flat rate per pound
Kind of tricky if you've only bought some helium-filled balloons... Does the store owe you a few pennies?
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
In final act of desperation to avoid sentencing, SAP VP turns himself into a lego set
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
My doctor growing up was a kleptomaniac. He would take things out of the local grocery without paying for them all the time. No one ever stopped him because he'd always return the goods a couple of hour later. Of course, he wasn't conspiring to do it for profit, he just couldn't help his impulses any more than someone with OCD.
I suppose this could be something similar, but criminal charges are definitely in order for the nature and amount of the crime.
You may want to check and see if you still have both of your kidneys. Just sayin.
I once visited England and bought everything by the Pound.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
He copied someone else's CV over the real CV and scanned it in.
Not to say it was, but it could have been an insulin pump or colonoscopy bag
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.
For comments like that, Slashdot's Scores should be logarithmic.
I see old women do this all of the time. Not making their own barcodes, mind you, but swapping the code from the seeded cucumbers to the unseeded ones, or switch the tag from a generic bible and put it onto the fancy one they have their eye on. I wish I wasn't serious.
I see this all too frequently myself. Yes, even the bible one. The irony of someone stealing a bible is not lost on me, either.
Well, obviously, that's the person who need it most!
And what's he making now?
License plates. drrrTISH!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yeah. Most people aren't sociopaths. The stores would be much better off with face recognition software and a database of CEO photos, which triggers an alarm.