Man arrested for defrauding Walmart of $1.3 million in PC return scheme

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,240   +192
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Facepalm: Walmart’s return policy has a reputation for being comically lax but this seems excessive, especially for one person to pull off in just 18 months. Doing some quick math, that works out to an average of more than $72,000 per month. One has to question whether this was a solo operation, what Frudaker did with all the money and how Walmart didn’t catch on sooner.

Authorities in Yuma, Arizona, have arrested a 23-year-old man accused of making fraudulent returns at more than 1,000 Walmart stores across the country over an 18-month span.

Officials picked up Thomas Frudaker after he allegedly attempted to return a computer to a Yuma area Walmart he’d previously purchased. Authorities believe Frudaker had purchased the PC then removed select components before attempting the return, presumably to sell elsewhere for a profit.

Upon further investigation, police learned that Frudaker had pulled off similar antics at more than 1,000 Walmart locations across the nation over the past 18 months, defrauding the big box retailer of over $1.3 million in the process.

According to CNN's local affiliate, Frudaker is facing six felony charges including two counts of criminal damage, two counts of fraudulent schemes and two counts of theft. Bail was set at $40,000 and he is scheduled to appear in court Monday, we’re told.

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You'd think they'd have a technician look at returned PCs before running the transaction.
 
You'd think they'd have a technician look at returned PCs before running the transaction.

I'd expect the average wall-mart associate's computer building knowledge to be somewhere between zero and 'huh?' But still... it doesn't take an expert to make sure it still turns on.

I wonder how they caught him... I'd bet either he a) got too greedy or b) bragged to someone who turned him in.
 
I'd expect the average wall-mart associate's computer building knowledge to be somewhere between zero and 'huh?' But still... it doesn't take an expert to make sure it still turns on.

I wonder how they caught him... I'd bet either he a) got too greedy or b) bragged to someone who turned him in.

Greed. They (Walmart loss prevention) were probably tracking him after the first few attempts and he made the mistake of walking into a store that had a lookout notice on him. Fraud like this is actually fairly common, just not with computer parts and sums in the millions. They all have two things in common: They all think there are no cameras at the customer service desk and they all think those tapes don't get reviewed unless they act "suspicious." Wrong on both counts, especially when a PC with a return ticket is missing a GPU.
 
He didn't make 1.3 million, he was buying computers that cost Walmart $700+ then stealing $200-300 worth of parts from them and returning them. His 1.3 million came from the cost to Walmart not what he was making. Anymore this is getting harder to do on laptops, can't steal the CPU, or video cards since they are both soldered, unless he pulled the entire board he wasn't making much.
 
Quite a fast worker. too bad he works so fast in doing illegal things, with energy to work so fast I am certain many employer would love to have a worker who works like him, but honest, too.
 
"Officials picked up Thomas Frudaker after he allegedly attempted to return a computer to a Yuma area Walmart he’d previously purchased", why return it to a store that he'd purchased? Surely Walmart would have noticed him buying their stores :p
 
How dumb do you have to be to think "Well I got away with it for the last few months so they know nothing and I can keep doing this for years!"

Even if the store staff were stupid enough to not notice, they would have found out when they sold it to a customer and the customer complained. Then the investigation starts, follow the paper trail, call the police, game over.
 
Criminals always think they can get away with it one more time. It's always one more score need to buy something else. The greed which is the reason for their crime is also their downfall.
 
The guy had 18 months of selling hard drives and RAM sticks. I would guess his motivation was a drug habit, not greed. That monkey on his back was greedy for more dope.
 
Its when things like this happen that I think some countries have much better systems for dealing with this kinda crap. like forced amputation of a hand, in public, with a rusty axe!
 
My experience is stores like for people to keep going to rack up the charges for stiffer penalties. They probably could have done something earlier. Pray for him to find Christ before Judgement Day.
 
Criminals always think they can get away with it one more time. It's always one more score need to buy something else. The greed which is the reason for their crime is also their downfall.
lust for money and power lead so many to their downfall. Also makes society crappy for the rest of us.
 
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