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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:33AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:33AM (#557338)

    It never ceases to amaze me how stupid people like this are. If you find an exploit like this and actually want to use it, it would be smarter to only use it occasionally over a long period of time, and not to sell the merchandise online (which leaves behind evidence). Even if the exploit is eventually fixed, that's better than getting caught like an idiot.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:05PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:05PM (#557576)

    If you find an exploit like this and actually want to use it, it would be smarter to only use it occasionally over a long period of time ...

    No, you only do it once. Never tell the same lie twice.

    Fortunately this type of criminal is usually pretty stupid, and does the same thing over and over again until people notice the pattern.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:05PM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:05PM (#558148) Journal

      Fortunately this type of criminal is usually pretty stupid

      How do you know? You only know of those who get caught, that's a pretty hefty selection bias.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.