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Atlanta Ga : Epson Ink Cartridge Scam Nets Pair $1M
There’s got to be an easier way to make money illegally than the scheme allegedly hatched by two metro Atlanta men involving thousands of computer printer ink cartridges.During a two-year period, Christian Dunca and Vladut Larion bought Epson ink cartridges from Best Buy and Target stores in Georgia, police told Channel 2 Action News. When they got home, they would remove the name-brand cartridges and re-sell them on eBay.Then, the suspects would “refill the box with an empty cartridge or an off-brand cartridge, something cheaper,” Gwinnett Police Department spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith said.
Smith said the pair had “all kinds of box cutters, shrink wrap guns, glues for repackaging and all these boxes to make it look professional."
The suspects allegedly returned the Epson cartridge boxes to stores in Florida and New York for full cash refunds. Police estimate the scheme netted the men about $1 million, “and the loss to these retail outlets is about a half a million,” Smith said.
The alleged scam came to light when Target officials noticed large cash refunds being doled out for the cartridges and contacted authorities.
Police searched an apartment in Atlanta and a home in Lawrenceville and seized more than 3,000 cartridges as evidence.
Dunca is charged with theft by deception, while Larion is charged with conspiracy to commit a felony crime, according to their arrest warrants.
Dunca was taken into custody outside a Best Buy store in New York. Larion is still in Gwinnett County, police said, and they are asking him to surrender.
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