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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.


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  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:50AM (2 children)

    by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @01:50AM (#557344) Journal

    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.

    So is this like the pudding guy, who spent about $12,000 on pudding snacks and got over $100,000-worth of flights (and a large tax deduction) out of it?

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by drussell on Tuesday August 22 2017, @03:05AM (1 child)

    by drussell (2678) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @03:05AM (#557363) Journal

    Hoover basically went out of business when their UK division gave away the free flights with the purchase of a vacuum (where they obviously though that not enough people would redeem the reward but the reward was worth more than the vacuum!)....

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 22 2017, @03:35AM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @03:35AM (#557373) Journal

      Oh, that's what happened to them. Well that sucks.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...