At 21 years old, I haven’t stepped foot inside a Toys ‘R’ Us in years; But if I do in the near future, it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t be finagling like these adults were. This mother and son duo managed to steal over $2 million from stores across the country! So what was their clever, illegal scheme?
Michael and Margaret Pollara (46 and 70, respectively) apparently visited 139 Toys R Us in 27 states where they bought nearly $7,000 worth of lower-priced items. According to news reports, they scoured stores looking for inexpensive toys that came in large boxes which served as the enablers for their scam. By emptying the contents of those larger boxes and filling them with more expensive toys, the Pollaras’ would hide the cheap contents somewhere else and finalize the deal when they paid for the inexpensive large box filled with more expensive merchandise.
Michael Pollara had more than $900,000 in eBay and PayPal accounts, according to reports. Authorities were able to finally catch them because they used a Toys R Us rewards card for all of their purchases. I guess they didn’t “account” for that part of the plan going sour.
The plan is pretty clever if you ask but of course bears some pretty heavy legal consequences. Find out more about this $2 million scam at the source. [via Bossip]
What do you think about the Pollaras’ scheme?
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didn’t any of the stores have cameras or security?
guest
It’s possible to be clever without being intelligent, and it seems that these are the people who are typically charlatans.
guest
I am taken aback by the stupidity from both parties.
I also had this idea, didn’t act out on it though. I had two notebooks in my hand- one cost 10 the other 13 €. I could have exchanged the cases in which they were and on which was the price tag. But I didn’t dare that bc there were cameras, and anyway someone could have watched me, and I didn’t want a police file for somehing so silly.
Anyway what I’m saying is, it doesn’t take much intelligence. And it doesn’t take much intelligence to watch out for people like that. And when you are commiting a crime, you should (well not SHOULD but everyone knows what I mean) watch out for people watching you or keeping track of you, AND NOT GET A REWARD CARD. Ouch.
guest
No one at Toys R Us caught this? I don’t see how.
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apparently the security guards at 129 of the stores fell asleep or was busy texting on their phones to notice them opening boxes and dumping expensive toys into the big boxes.
the barcode exchange lego scheme involving a silicone valley exec is sly and hilarious. rich peoples’ hobbies or secret criminal life of a geek.
sunflower / 255 posts
Major oversight on their part, extreme oversight on Toys R Us.
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