Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Tuesday August 22 2017, @12:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the get-/good_prices.htm dept.

USA Today has a story about a New Jersey couple who allegedly used a glitch in Lowes website to steal merchandise.

A New Jersey couple used a website glitch to try and get more than $258,000 worth of goods — everything from a gazebo to an air conditioner to a stainless steel grill — for free from a home improvement store, authorities said.

Ultimately, the couple was only able to secure nearly $13,000 worth of merchandise from Lowe's after exploiting "weaknesses" in the company's website to have the items shipped to their home in Brick for free, according to a release from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Romela Velazquez, 24, was arrested and charged with theft by deception and computer criminal activity for accessing a computer system with the purpose to defraud. She attempted to get about $258,068 worth of unpaid merchandise from Lowe's, according to the release.

She actually received about $12,971 in stolen products, according to the release.

Her husband, Kimy Velazquez, 40, was charged with third-degree receipt of stolen property and fencing for his role in the alleged scheme.

The couple tried to sell some of the products on a local Facebook "buy and sell" group for half of the original sale price, listing the products as "new in box," authorities said.

According to an article on NJ.com, an attorney for the couple has stated that Velazquez is just an expert shopper, not a criminal hacker.

Jef Henninger, an attorney for Romela Velazquez, said his client is "the farthest thing from a computer hacker."

"Like many young mothers, she needs to stretch every dollar she can," Henninger said in a statement. "As a result, she has learned to spot good deals. These are the same deals that any of us can take advantage of, but most of us are too busy to learn how to spot them.

"Buying things at a big discount and selling them is not illegal. As a result, she maintains her innocence (and) looks forward to her day in court."

As far as I have been able to find, no technical details about the hack have been released.

One of the more interesting details that I did see was

Lowe's, makers of Ugg shoes and Victoria's Secret have been identified as victims so far – but many more retailers were also ripped off and will eventually be identified, officials said.

Who knew?

Additional coverage at the New York Post and BleepingComputer.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:05AM (7 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:05AM (#557325) Homepage Journal

    Trust me, Lowe's doesn't make Victoria's Secret. It's made by L Brands but the L doesn't stand for Lowe's. It stands for Les Wexner. Who is disgusting. He said I'm like Emperor Nero or Emperor Caligula. Who, even though they were Emperors, were not popular. Not at all popular. And worst of all, he compared Crooked Hillary to those Emperors in the same breath. In the same sentence. So no one knows whether he's saying I'm like Nero and she's like Caligula, or I'm like Caligula and she's like Nero. Which she is, but I'm not. Disgusting! 🇺🇸

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   -1  
       Offtopic=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Offtopic' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   1  
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:11AM (3 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:11AM (#557330)

    Donald prefers the Oxford comma? I guess when you reach three wives, it starts to matter.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:14AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:14AM (#557351) Homepage Journal

      Absolutely! But I call it the Chicago comma. They taught it to me at Wharton. Where I minored in real estate, and majored in RULING INCREDIBLY. Ruling the likes of which you've never seen in your life. Like this world has never, ever seen before, and may never see again! 🇺🇸

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday August 22 2017, @07:50AM (1 child)

      by Magic Oddball (3847) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @07:50AM (#557430) Journal

      Using an Oxford comma doesn't seem anywhere near as weird as the fact that he has produced so many comments without making catastrophic spelling errors. ;-)

      That said, I thought that the Oxford comma was limited to sequences with three or more items, and the only list I can see there has just two compound items: (a=1 and b=2) and (a=2 and b=1).

      • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday August 23 2017, @10:26PM

        by Osamabobama (5842) on Wednesday August 23 2017, @10:26PM (#558199)

        the only list I can see there has just two compound items

        I count three items on the list:
        1. Lowe's
        2. makers of Ugg shoes (i.e. Deckers Outdoor Corporation)
        3. Victoria's Secret

        --
        Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:14AM (2 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:14AM (#557332)

    Trust me, Lowe's doesn't make Victoria's Secret.

    Lowe's sells 50 lb bags of concrete and 10 ft lumber, not to mention pool chemicals and assorted shit need to upgrade a house (light switch anyone).

    How in the hell does Victoria's Secret models get wrapped into a Lowes discussion thread?

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:07AM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:07AM (#557350) Homepage Journal

      Are you quoting yourself? Let me tell you, when you quote yourself you don't need to use quote marks. You can just come out and say it! Believe me, I love to quote myself, I quote myself all the time. And no one ever questioned it. So I know. And I don't know how Victoria's Secret got a shout out, but they did. In the summary, in bold. It's a long summary, but just skip to the bold part. And there it is! Amazing and very, very disappointing, but true. Sad! 🇺🇸

      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:21AM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @02:21AM (#557353) Homepage Journal

        P.S. when I say come out, it's OK if you come out as gay. I'm very, very OK with the gays! ✔ And especially with my beautiful lesbians! Just remember who has your back. Who always, always stood behind the gays and lesbians! Not trans, I'm done with the trans. In 2020, remember me! #TRUMP2020 🇺🇸