Mass. girls accused of stealing virtually $30K in merchandise through grocery store coupon rip-off

A grand jury indicted two Massachusetts girls Tuesday on fees that they organized and operated a counterfeit coupon ring, which resulted within the theft of almost $27,000 in merchandise, the Plymouth County District Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned.

Their efforts may very well be mistaken for profitable “excessive couponing,” however authorities accuse the 2 Taunton girls of passing fraudulent coupons to unsuspecting cashiers, leading to main reductions.

Jacqueline White, 41, and Crystal Travis, 40, every face fees of larceny by false pretense by single scheme and larceny to induce parting with private property. White additionally faces a cost of organized retail theft.

The indictments by a Plymouth County grand jury this week observe a a number of months lengthy investigation by Hingham and Abington police with assist by Florida-based Coupon Data Middle, a nonprofit that fights coupon fraud, a release from the district attorney’s office famous.

Authorities allege that from March 10 via June 2, White and Travis walked into quite a few Cease and Store grocery shops all through Massachusetts and used counterfeit coupons to steal $26,547 value of merchandise.

In a single instance on March 10, White and Travis used a Cease and Store rewards program card to buy 366 objects together with drinks, laundry detergent, dishwashing cleaning soap, and hygiene merchandise, officers mentioned. Utilizing fraudulent coupons, the associated fee went from $1,658.28 to simply $3.28, in response to the indictment.

The ladies created top quality counterfeit coupons that includes barcodes and graphics that mirrored reliable third-party coupons, the district lawyer’s workplace mentioned. In addition they used social media platforms like Fb and Dropbox to buy counterfeit coupons, per the indictment.

After profitable hauls, the ladies would publish photographs of the merchandise on Fb and different social media websites, providing to promote them for discounted costs, authorities mentioned. They’d meet potential consumers in Taunton and request funds in money, the indictment alleges.

The ladies allegedly executed their scheme at Cease and Store areas in Quincy, Weymouth, Raynham, Plainville, Whitman, Abington, Pembroke, Norwell, Hingham, North Dartmouth, New Bedford, Sandwich, and Brockton, in addition to in East Windfall and Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Over the course of three months, police say, the ladies amassed the next:

• 300 bottles of material freshener
• 56 bars of tub cleaning soap
• 188 bottles of material softener
• 226 bottles of laundry detergent
• 219 cans of air disinfectant
• 135 bottles of hand cleaning soap
• 22 skincare merchandise
• 130 air fresheners
• 275 instances of anti-bacterial wipes
• 34 bottles of mouthwash
• 34 packages of paper towels
• 26 toothbrushes
• 21 tubes of hand cream
• 158 bottles of dish cleaning soap

On April 26, the Coupon Data Middle alerted White on-line that she had been flagged as an individual related to unlawful counterfeit coupon actions. Although she was informed to stop exercise, White continued on with the operation, authorities mentioned.

The 2 girls shall be arraigned in Brockton Superior Courtroom at a later date, the district lawyer’s workplace mentioned.