Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
I can only think that the intention would be to flip them for a profit.
LOL, well yea. I doubt they're building them.
It's awkwardly worded but: "Police said during Wednesday's bust,
potential buyers who saw ads for the toys online stopped by the home."
I'm assuming they're referring to FB marketplace and Craiglist which
would all be cash under the table. No sense in growing a conscience all the
sudden and trying to sell them on bricklink and deal with income taxes and paypal/BL
fees.
Just came across this in my thread. A California couple is in trouble for allegedly
stealing nearly 3,000 LEGO sets. I can only think that the intention would be
to flip them for a profit.
this is not the first one , 15 yaers ago there whas a bricklink mamber who change
the barcode and payd pennis for a large lego set and sold it on bricklink .
This is not the first one, ~15 years ago there whas a bricklink member who change d
the barcode and paid pennies for a large lego sets and sold it on bricklink.
William Swanberg
IIRC, among other methods, he printed barcode stickers for the mini Millennium
Falcon 4488 and put them on a full size Millennium Falcon (4504 at the time?).
He traveled across several states to pull this off in many different stores.
In an amazing coincidence Swanberg was in a published photograph that an AP reporter
took the day before Swanberg's arrest. The reporter was at Target covering
holiday shopping. Swanberg (using the fake name Franklin Duffy) was pictured
(attached) pushing a cart filled with full size Millennium Falcons.
In November, William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was arrested and accused of
stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Legos from stores throughout
the country by changing their scannable bar codes. He did particularly well with
the Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego sets; officials found 56 of the sets in
Swanberg’s car at the time of his arrest.
“You can take a $100 Lego set and put a $5 PCP code on it," Abney said. "Even
if it sells for $75, the thief makes good money.”
"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 Lego’s
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 Lego’s 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 didn’t want to talk to them about his activities. Detectives obtained
a
search warrant for Swanberg’s 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 Sheriff’s Office
and the Hillsboro Police Department."
"WEST SLOPE -- The name Lego comes from the Danish words "leg godt,"
which
translates to "play well."
It's a lesson William A. Swanberg could learn.
On Thursday morning, Washington County sheriff's investigators searched
Swanberg's van and say they found it packed with the stuff of Christmas dreams:
dozens of high-priced Lego toys.
Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was arrested the day before at the Target just east
of Oregon 217 on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
Sheriff's investigators and the retailer's security officers accused
Swanberg of
theft. They say he cheated Target stores in five Western states by using fake
bar codes to buy more than $115,000 worth of Lego toy sets for 20 cents on the
dollar.
Washington County sheriff's Detective Troy Dolyniuk said Swanberg ran a scam
to
acquire and resell the toys across the West. The detective offered this account:
Swanberg would take a real bar code from a cheaper Lego set and reprint it on
a
sticker he would slap on an expensive Lego set.
When Swanberg went through the checkout line at a Target, he would hand the
store clerk the item with the fraudulent bar code and show a pile of the same
items in his cart, the detective said. To speed things along, the clerk would
scan the faked bar code sticker multiple times.
Swanberg later sold the items for nearly the full retail price on eBay, Dolyniuk
said.
He was an efficient shopper. Dolyniuk said the van's contents show he had
hit
seven Portland-area Target stores on Wednesday -- five in Multnomah County
and
two in Washington County.
Swanberg was detained by an employee of the Target on Beaverton-Hillsdale
Highway about 2 p.m. Wednesday and arrested just before 5 p.m.
He was arraigned Thursday on two charges of first-degree theft and held in
Washington County Jail on $250,000 bail.
When authorities looked through the tinted windows of Swanberg's van early
Thursday, they could see stacks of Lego toys. They tallied 56 Star Wars
Millennium Falcon sets (with a $98.99 sticker price); 22 Star Wars Ultimate
Space Battle sets ($49.99); five Harry Potter sets; and three large Ferrari F1
Large Racers ($69.99).
Dolyniuk said the Ferrari sets trace back to a Toys R Us.
The detective credited the sharp eyes of Target's corporate security people
for
tracking Swanberg and catching him in time for the holidays.
"Hopefully, we kept him from spoiling some kid's Christmas," Dolyniuk
said."
Man accused in $200,000 Lego Internet scam
Toy caper involved Target stores in 5 states
Friday, November 25, 2005; Posted: 8:57 a.m. EST (13:57 GMT)
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the
evidence from a suspect's house -- mountains of Lego bricks.
William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nevada, is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of the colorful plastic building blocks.
Swanberg was indicted by a grand jury in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, which
charged him with stealing Lego sets from Target stores.
Target estimates Swanberg stole up to $200,000 worth of the brick sets pilfered
from their stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Legos
were resold on the Internet, officials said.
Attempts to reach Swanberg at a county jail, where he was being held on $250,000
bail, were unsuccessful. It was not known if he had retained an attorney.
Swanberg is accused of switching the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive
one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington
County fraud and identity theft enforcement team.
Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores
in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area
store November 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon
set.
In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each,
as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators
also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their
locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.
Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg
has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.
Lego's Danish founder Ole Kirk Christiansen named the famous bricks in 1934
by fusing two Danish words, "leg" and "godt" meaning "play
well."
Children across the world spend 5 billion hours every year playing with Lego
bricks, available in 90 different colors, according to the company's Web
site.
In November, William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was arrested and accused of
stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Legos from stores throughout
the country by changing their scannable bar codes. He did particularly well with
the Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego sets; officials found 56 of the sets in
Swanberg’s car at the time of his arrest.
“You can take a $100 Lego set and put a $5 PCP code on it," Abney said. "Even
if it sells for $75, the thief makes good money.”
"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 Lego’s
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 Lego’s 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 didn’t want to talk to them about his activities. Detectives obtained
a
search warrant for Swanberg’s 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 Sheriff’s Office
and the Hillsboro Police Department."
"WEST SLOPE -- The name Lego comes from the Danish words "leg godt,"
which
translates to "play well."
It's a lesson William A. Swanberg could learn.
On Thursday morning, Washington County sheriff's investigators searched
Swanberg's van and say they found it packed with the stuff of Christmas dreams:
dozens of high-priced Lego toys.
Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was arrested the day before at the Target just east
of Oregon 217 on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
Sheriff's investigators and the retailer's security officers accused
Swanberg of
theft. They say he cheated Target stores in five Western states by using fake
bar codes to buy more than $115,000 worth of Lego toy sets for 20 cents on the
dollar.
Washington County sheriff's Detective Troy Dolyniuk said Swanberg ran a scam
to
acquire and resell the toys across the West. The detective offered this account:
Swanberg would take a real bar code from a cheaper Lego set and reprint it on
a
sticker he would slap on an expensive Lego set.
When Swanberg went through the checkout line at a Target, he would hand the
store clerk the item with the fraudulent bar code and show a pile of the same
items in his cart, the detective said. To speed things along, the clerk would
scan the faked bar code sticker multiple times.
Swanberg later sold the items for nearly the full retail price on eBay, Dolyniuk
said.
He was an efficient shopper. Dolyniuk said the van's contents show he had
hit
seven Portland-area Target stores on Wednesday -- five in Multnomah County
and
two in Washington County.
Swanberg was detained by an employee of the Target on Beaverton-Hillsdale
Highway about 2 p.m. Wednesday and arrested just before 5 p.m.
He was arraigned Thursday on two charges of first-degree theft and held in
Washington County Jail on $250,000 bail.
When authorities looked through the tinted windows of Swanberg's van early
Thursday, they could see stacks of Lego toys. They tallied 56 Star Wars
Millennium Falcon sets (with a $98.99 sticker price); 22 Star Wars Ultimate
Space Battle sets ($49.99); five Harry Potter sets; and three large Ferrari F1
Large Racers ($69.99).
Dolyniuk said the Ferrari sets trace back to a Toys R Us.
The detective credited the sharp eyes of Target's corporate security people
for
tracking Swanberg and catching him in time for the holidays.
"Hopefully, we kept him from spoiling some kid's Christmas," Dolyniuk
said."
Man accused in $200,000 Lego Internet scam
Toy caper involved Target stores in 5 states
Friday, November 25, 2005; Posted: 8:57 a.m. EST (13:57 GMT)
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the
evidence from a suspect's house -- mountains of Lego bricks.
William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nevada, is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of the colorful plastic building blocks.
Swanberg was indicted by a grand jury in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, which
charged him with stealing Lego sets from Target stores.
Target estimates Swanberg stole up to $200,000 worth of the brick sets pilfered
from their stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Legos
were resold on the Internet, officials said.
Attempts to reach Swanberg at a county jail, where he was being held on $250,000
bail, were unsuccessful. It was not known if he had retained an attorney.
Swanberg is accused of switching the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive
one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington
County fraud and identity theft enforcement team.
Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores
in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area
store November 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon
set.
In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each,
as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators
also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their
locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.
Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg
has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.
Lego's Danish founder Ole Kirk Christiansen named the famous bricks in 1934
by fusing two Danish words, "leg" and "godt" meaning "play
well."
Children across the world spend 5 billion hours every year playing with Lego
bricks, available in 90 different colors, according to the company's Web
site.
In November, William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was arrested and accused of
stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Legos from stores throughout
the country by changing their scannable bar codes. He did particularly well with
the Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego sets; officials found 56 of the sets in
Swanberg’s car at the time of his arrest.
“You can take a $100 Lego set and put a $5 PCP code on it," Abney said. "Even
if it sells for $75, the thief makes good money.”
"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 Lego’s
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 Lego’s 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 didn’t want to talk to them about his activities. Detectives obtained
a
search warrant for Swanberg’s 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 Sheriff’s Office
and the Hillsboro Police Department."
"WEST SLOPE -- The name Lego comes from the Danish words "leg godt,"
which
translates to "play well."
It's a lesson William A. Swanberg could learn.
On Thursday morning, Washington County sheriff's investigators searched
Swanberg's van and say they found it packed with the stuff of Christmas dreams:
dozens of high-priced Lego toys.
Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nev., was arrested the day before at the Target just east
of Oregon 217 on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
Sheriff's investigators and the retailer's security officers accused
Swanberg of
theft. They say he cheated Target stores in five Western states by using fake
bar codes to buy more than $115,000 worth of Lego toy sets for 20 cents on the
dollar.
Washington County sheriff's Detective Troy Dolyniuk said Swanberg ran a scam
to
acquire and resell the toys across the West. The detective offered this account:
Swanberg would take a real bar code from a cheaper Lego set and reprint it on
a
sticker he would slap on an expensive Lego set.
When Swanberg went through the checkout line at a Target, he would hand the
store clerk the item with the fraudulent bar code and show a pile of the same
items in his cart, the detective said. To speed things along, the clerk would
scan the faked bar code sticker multiple times.
Swanberg later sold the items for nearly the full retail price on eBay, Dolyniuk
said.
He was an efficient shopper. Dolyniuk said the van's contents show he had
hit
seven Portland-area Target stores on Wednesday -- five in Multnomah County
and
two in Washington County.
Swanberg was detained by an employee of the Target on Beaverton-Hillsdale
Highway about 2 p.m. Wednesday and arrested just before 5 p.m.
He was arraigned Thursday on two charges of first-degree theft and held in
Washington County Jail on $250,000 bail.
When authorities looked through the tinted windows of Swanberg's van early
Thursday, they could see stacks of Lego toys. They tallied 56 Star Wars
Millennium Falcon sets (with a $98.99 sticker price); 22 Star Wars Ultimate
Space Battle sets ($49.99); five Harry Potter sets; and three large Ferrari F1
Large Racers ($69.99).
Dolyniuk said the Ferrari sets trace back to a Toys R Us.
The detective credited the sharp eyes of Target's corporate security people
for
tracking Swanberg and catching him in time for the holidays.
"Hopefully, we kept him from spoiling some kid's Christmas," Dolyniuk
said."
Man accused in $200,000 Lego Internet scam
Toy caper involved Target stores in 5 states
Friday, November 25, 2005; Posted: 8:57 a.m. EST (13:57 GMT)
PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Agents had to use a 20-foot truck to cart away the
evidence from a suspect's house -- mountains of Lego bricks.
William Swanberg, 40, of Reno, Nevada, is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of the colorful plastic building blocks.
Swanberg was indicted by a grand jury in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, which
charged him with stealing Lego sets from Target stores.
Target estimates Swanberg stole up to $200,000 worth of the brick sets pilfered
from their stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The Legos
were resold on the Internet, officials said.
Attempts to reach Swanberg at a county jail, where he was being held on $250,000
bail, were unsuccessful. It was not known if he had retained an attorney.
Swanberg is accused of switching the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive
one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington
County fraud and identity theft enforcement team.
Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores
in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area
store November 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon
set.
In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars sets, valued at $99 each,
as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators
also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their
locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.
Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg
has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.
Lego's Danish founder Ole Kirk Christiansen named the famous bricks in 1934
by fusing two Danish words, "leg" and "godt" meaning "play
well."
Children across the world spend 5 billion hours every year playing with Lego
bricks, available in 90 different colors, according to the company's Web
site.
VP of Palo Alto’s SAP Arrested in LEGO Bar Code Scam
Monday, May 21, 2012
By Lisa Fernandez and Kris Sanchez
A San Carlos software engineer is charged with four counts of felony burglary.
An executive at a Palo Alto software giant was charged Monday with four felony
counts of burglary, after authorities said he allegedly made his own bar code
stickers, switched the tags, and then bought boxes of LEGO at Target stores for
huge discounts.
Thomas Langenbach, 47, who lists himself as the vice president at Palo Alto’s
SAP Labs Integration and Certification Center on his LinkedIn profile, is expected
to be arraigned Tuesday in Santa Clara County Court.
“This probably happens more often than you’d think,” said Mountain View police
spokeswoman Liz Wylie. “But this is the first time we’ve ever had a case like
this.”
NBC Bay Area went to Langenbach’s multimillion dollar San Carlos home on Monday,
but no one answered the door, despite people being home. A representative from
SAP in New York confirmed Monday that Lagenbach is employed at the company and
declined further comment.
Langenbach was arrested May 9, and posted $10,000 bail hours later, jail records
show.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Cindy Hendrickson said Monday that internal
Target security spotted something awry with Langenbach’s purchases from their
stores --that’s three alleged burglaries from the Mountain View store on
Showers Drive and one from the Cupertino store on Stevens Creek Boulevard over
the last month or so.
Wylie, of Mountain View police, said Target security had captured Langenbach
performing the “ticket switch” on camera, and had been onto him because the company
pays very close attention to LEGO sales.
“LEGO are very popular and expensive,” Wylie said.
Langenbach was formally charged with four counts of burglary totaling seven boxes
of LEGO worth about $1,000.
When police searched his home, however, Hendrickson said they found “hundreds
and hundreds” of LEGO boxes inside. They also discovered that since last April,
he had allegedly sold 2,100 LEGO items totallng about $30,000 on eBay using the
handle “tomsbrickyard.” Inside Langenbach’s car, Hendrickson said, were 32 pre-made
barcode stickers.
Hendrickson did not charge Langenbach for anything more than the four burglaries,
as she said investigators are sifting over the evidence to determine what has
been stolen and what might legitimately have been his.
Langenbach’s modus operandi, Hendrickson said, was to create his own sophisticated
bar code stickers, and switch the tags at various Target stores. Those bar codes
were for a much cheaper price. So, for instance, Hendrickson said that Langenbach
bought a $279 box of Millenium Falcon box of LEGO for just $49, and he bought
a $90 Anakin LEGO set for about $35.
In a statement sent to NBC Bay Area, Target stated the company “takes incidents
of this nature very seriously.” Target declined further comment.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Langenbach has been with the company since
1988, and holds a degree in computer science and business administration from
Berufsakademie Mannheim, Germany. SAP headquarters is in Germany. SAP is a “market
leader” in enterprise application software, according to its website. And its
acronym stands for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing.
This is not the first case of a LEGO bar code scam. In 2005, William Swanberg
of Reno, Nev., was arrested in connection with stealing hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of LEGO sets from Target after switching the bar code labels
on the toy boxes. The company at the time estimated Swanberg stole up to $200,000
of LEGO taken from their stores in Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.
The LEGO sets were then resold on the Web. In that case, too, Target investigators
uncovered the scheme.
-----
(I'm probably over-posting on this topic, but the Swanberg thing was a BIG
deal at a time that I was more active on Bricklink.)
USA, Virginia
United Kingdom, England
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Canada, Ontario
Belgium
Netherlands, Gelderland
