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In lugnet.mediawatch, Andrew Bulthaupt wrote:
> William A. Swanberg, the inventory admin on Bricklink was arrested for switching
> UPCs on Lego sets. Full story here:
>
> http://www.co.washington.or.us/sheriff/media/win_100k.htm
>
> "WASHINGTON COUNTY - - Early this morning (11/17/05), members of the Washington
> County Interagency Fraud and Identity Theft Enforcement Team (FITE), along with
> members of the Regional Computer Forensics Lab, served a search warrant on a van
> parked in the Target parking lot located at 10075 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy.
> The owner of the van was alleged to have stolen over $115,000.00 worth of Legos
> from the Target Corporation and then sold the toys on eBay.
>
> William A. Swanberg
> Detectives questioned a man they suspected of cheating Target stores in five
> western states out of over $150,000.00. William A. Swanberg, 40, was detained by
> Target security officers after he purchased ten boxes of the Star Wars
> Millennium Falcon Lego set. Detectives say that Swanberg had developed a method
> to replace the bar code on the more expensive Millennium Falcon set with one
> from a less expensive Lego set. He purchased the Legos at a greatly reduced
> price and then sold them on eBay for close to the retail price.
>
> Target identified the scam after Swanberg allegedly committed the same crime in
> Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California. Target loss prevention agents had been on
> the lookout for Swanberg after their corporate office notified them that he
> might be in the Portland Area. When Detectives contacted Swanberg at the Target
> store he didnt want to talk to them about his activities. Detectives obtained a
> search warrant for Swanbergs newer model Ford E-350 van and served it at
> approximately 4:00 a.m. this morning. They recovered 56 Star Wars Millennium
> Falcon Lego sets valued at approximately $99 each, 22 other miscellaneous Lego
> sets, and 5 Harry Potter Lego sets from the van which are thought to have been
> stolen from other Target stores in the area. Detectives also seized a notebook
> computer where Swanberg identified Target stores in the area and plotted their
> locations on mapping software. Swanberg was lodged in Washington County Jail on
> two counts of Theft I.
>
> In anticipation of the coming Holidays, The FITE Team is encouraging people to
> be especially careful with their financial information. For tips on preventing
> fraud and identity theft visit the FITE web page listed below.
>
> The FITE Team (Fraud & Identity Theft Enforcement) is a multi-agency team
> currently comprised of Detectives from the Washington County Sheriffs Office
> and the Hillsboro Police Department."
Reposting in several additional groups. This is an important story with
potential impact upon a whole bunch of people.
Thanks for posting the article. I've been reading the comments over at the
Bricklink forum, where the sale/resale aspect may have widespread repercussions.
Dave!
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I have not met or traded with Bill before. Still, this news shocked me, as if
suddenly I discovered that one of my close friends were a criminal.
It's sad, sad, sad. Stealing is wrong. Stealing for profit is very wrong.
Still, he could have commit the scam to lots of things more valuable, but when
he was caught, the police found only Lego sets in his truck.
Hao-yang Wang
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