Walmart Sells You An Empty Box Instead Of A Laptop -- But You Bought It With Stolen Credit Cards
You know how sometimes in football both teams will screw up on the same play and the penalties will offset? We've just found the fraud version of that situation. Three men brought a laptop computer box to Walmart and said that they'd been sold an empty box. Walmart thought they were being scammed, so they called the police. That's when all hell broke loose.
When the police arrived on the scene, one of the three men ran away, dropping credit cards on the ground. It turns out that these credit cards were fakes encoded with real stolen credit card numbers. The men were arrested and there's now an ongoing investigation as to the origin of the numbers... but here's the hilarious part -- Walmart actually did sell these guys an empty box instead of a laptop.
The AP says:
The counterfeit credit cards were encoded with valid stolen credit card numbers and police say an investigation is ongoing to identify the account holders.
Store employees later discovered they had indeed sold an empty box to the three men.
Walmart Busts Three Men for Fraud After Accidentally Selling Them Empty Computer Boxes [Fox News] (Thanks, Tom!)
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
Attention, Walmart shoppers! This ad is for you! Woo hoo!
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Comments:
That is freaking funny as hell. For once a Walmart screw has a positive outcome. Was in Walmart tonight enjoying their cheap food prices.
haha! Pwned
Geeez. This isn't the first time their laptop boxes are deceiving... just this weekend, my mother spilled coffee all over her laptop, and we went to buy her a new one with $600 CASH. Bought the laptop, brought it home... IT WAS USED. Not only was is USED, but it stilled had a burned CD in the drive, and was missing all the pertinent Windows software.
My father and sister returned the laptop within 6 HOURS of purchase, for Walmart to practically call them liars and proceeded to verify all serial numbers, and almost refused to allow the return. They made my father and sister feel like criminals. It CLEARLY SAYS 45 days for returns on electronics. They eventually got their money back, but I don't think they'll be shopping at a walmart again all too soon.
Poetic Justice.
@verucalise: NOTE TO SELF: STOP RAMBLING AND GET TO THE POINT.
Clue #1- The box said $548, the shelf said $798. We thought we were getting a clearance deal.
Clue #2- Box had clearly been opened before. We noticed this once we got home. Please check all your purchases before leaving the store to see if they have been opened before.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, open electronics in the store in front of another employee before making the purchase to verify that what is in the box ACTUALLY is what is supposed to be in the box.
To hell with their policies, to hell with the protests from the employee and/or manager. This is the only way to not have them screw you over once you walk out those doors.
I love this story!
XD
That's is why, regardless of the big box store your purchase electronics from, you should always open the box before you walk out and verify the everything is there and as it should be. Several employees, who are technology stupid, just box it back up and put it on the shelf, instead of returning it to the manufacture like they are told/trained to.
This is obviously Walmart's fault for selling boxes with no laptops inside. This entire situation with the police and "alleged" stolen credit cards would've been avoided if someone had just managed to package properly.
@verucalise: I never remember to do that when I buy electronics...but always do when I buy items at Ikea! (since I worked there for years, I know how it can be)
serves them right for scamming. I wonder if walmart will take the matter of selling empty boxes seriously. Also were the men too tied up in their own plan to scam that they didn't notice the box felt empty? This is simply poetic.
Theives normally just want to get out of the store as quick as they can. In this case they ended up getting their asses handed to them. This isn't a story about Walmart screwing over an honest consumer who did do the the basics. It's about Walmart screwing up and taking some bad people off the stret.
This is the best Walmart mistake ever. They might try doing this more often for the fun of it.
This is another argument for not buying ultralight laptops.
Were you enjoying the Communist lead on your food as well? It's cheap because the Chinese own you.
Wait a minute...I just noticed something..there are actually people out there trashy enough to buy food and laptops @ Wal-Mart?
Oh yeah...we're Americans.. stupid question *embarrassed*
it sounds like the men bought the laptop from the actual store, since the store discovered that they had sold him an empty box. that being said: wouldn't you notice that the box felt a little light?
maybe they were to busy being nervous criminals to notice the weight?
I ran into a guy trying to buy a gift card for like $400 or something like that when I was working at an apple store. The credit card was real, it had his name on it. He showed me his driver's license when I asked and his picture and name matched. I swiped the card, checked the last 4 digits of the number on my screen to match the card, and guess what! It didn't match! I told him my point of sale was "being weird" and said I would go ask for help. I kept the gift card in hand as the transaction had already gone through and couldn't be reversed, and he ran for the front door lickity split. Gave the receipt and gift card to my manager and they filed a report, voided the transaction. happy day for the person that owned that card number.
@verucalise:
I have learned to not buy open box items from big retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart and Fry's.
Bought a DvD player O.B. from Best Buy under the "oh yeah its got everything and is good" from the sales rep. It was missing cables which I didn't notice and wasn't working. Returned it that same night to see 5 more of the same model sitting opened and returned there at the returns desk. BB "do you want the same model?" Me "Hell no, look at all those returns. I want something that works".
It wasn't a mistake. Wal-Mart only sells expensive laptop boxes anymore. It's a loss prevention policy.
So I should go to Hannaford and pay 3.79 for the same frozen Stouffers meal that cost me 3.16 at Walmart? That makes me trashy because I basicly get one free from Walmart when I purchase 5 of them. I would spend 3.15 more for 5 of them at Walmart. Same product, but Walmart is 63cents cheaper per item.
I have no need for a laptop but if I needed one and found one I liked at Walmart for a good price. I would purchase it as well. I'm sure my purchase of a digital coax cable though along with food makes me trashy enough in your eyes.
@verucalise: I don't think there is any major purchase that you can make nowdays @ the retail level where you do not need to open the box and verify the contents. Way too many scams, and stores are failing to check returns thoroughly (or the employees themselves are in on it possibly).
Unfortunately this seems to occur at all retailers... I kind of avoid retail for this reason (well along with poor price competition for the most part).
Turns out, Wal-Mart is so bad, even thieves shouldn't shop there.
Wal-Mart. Our no discrimination policy ensures we screw everybody up. Even the bad guys.
touché
Why is this not on Fark yet?
I already replied to your dumb ass remarks. Read my reply to your dumb ass comment. I had no clue that Stoffuers frozen dinners, Freschetta pizzas and Campbell's soups where made in China.
All the same products I can purchase at Shaws or Hannaford but I will pay a lot more for but since Walmart stocks them they somehow are made in China?
Are you a troll are just that much of an idiot?
Wouldn't you be able to notice the box is extremely light if there wasn't a laptop in it? Not that I'm defending the scum, just pointing out the obvious.
I would pay 3.15 more at Hannaford. Not Walmart. My mistake. You are still a huge idiot LibertyReign.
I don't know if the two exactly offset each other, the guys who bought the laptop with the stolen credit cards are looking at jail time while Wal-Mart will continue selling empty boxes, treating honest customers like criminals and causing a huge hassle with returns without any legal penalties.
A million monkeys on a million typewriters...
I know they sell some lightweight laptops these days but most of those that are sold at Walmart are far from light. They are not high end laptops and if you cannot tell a laptop is in the box from just picking up said box. As them to open it.
Has common sense gone out the door that much in todays world?
@junip: Assuming that they were using skimmed cards, they should have had no reason to be nervous. The cards themselves would've had their names and the correct numbers on them. It sounds like they were just stupid.
I guess if you shopped at Target you'd be refined enough to sip your Coke through a straw instead of straight from the can.
When I shop at Food 4 Less because the prices are cheaper than any other place anywhere near here, should I be ashamed that I have less worth than trailer trash (only the truly degenerate shop at Food 4 Less) or should I be happy that I saved money?
I go to swap meets all the time to buy my fresh produce at insanely cheap prices.. does that make me trailer trash or a savvy shopper?
Get real; just because you get all your chocolate from Godiva stores doesn't mean your shit doesn't still smell like shitty Godiva.
@NotYou007: @trujunglist:
By the way, that was directed at LibertyReign, not you, NotYou.. not you not you not you
I'm just waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop up with a camera crew any minute now...
@verucalise: While no one likes restocking fees, they can protect you from this situation. The reason why you got a used one is that because Wal-Mart has no restocking fee, anything that is returned and no defect is able to be verified gets put back on the shelf. Granted, this should not have happened with a laptop because the policy is that anything with a memory (MP3 player, game system, computer, memory card, cell phone, etc.) is supposed to be returned to the manufacturer because they could have personal information on them or explicit material. Chances are someone didn't know that part of the return policy on laptops, it was checked and no one found anything wrong with it (they probably didn't know it was supposed to come with a disk), and put it back on the shelf. If there was a restocking fee, then Walmart would be able to sell it as an open box, but can't do so without a restocking fee because laptops have very little, if any, markup and the store would lose money if it had to discount the laptop for being opened.
"Stupid is as stupid does..."
And what if the idiots didn't have stolen credit cards?
Wal*Mart sold an empty box then calls the police on the buyer. Real nice.
Great scam Wal*Mart has going and of course nobody gets arrested there. Buy something with a stolen credit card, go to jail.
Rip your customers off then call the police on them.
Win... Win...
Well I do shop at Target as well. I purchased my Sony LCD HDTV at Target and yes, I know your comments where not directed at me. We can be trash together because we choose to save money. I don't shop at Save A Lot, which is the white trash store because they don't carry the items I enjoy. I'm lucky enough to make decent money and I could shop at Hannaford and sometimes I do but it pains me to purchase the same thing for a lot more money when I know how much cheaper it is at Walmart but if that makes me trashy, so be it. I'll be a trashy white boy.
I guess karma does go around.
@ceilingFANBOY: Yeah, I called my dad to make sure I got the story right... he said there was still a PASSWORD on the computer as well.
Pffffft. Boy, he was PISSED.
But, back to the original story... I find the empty box a perfect match to the souls of those men.
Hope they got an extensive cavity search.
Did somebody advise the thieves they should contact the credit card companies for a chargeback?
You won't find me buying anything at Walmart. They're a great example of a mega-corporation that could care less about anything except maximizing their wealth at all costs.
If the thieves hadn't panicked they probably wouldn't have gotten the credit card situation exposed. In any case, I don't know why they bothered coming back with it when they were using stolen credit cards in the first place, and thus the empty box didn't cost them anything. It would have been safer just trying to buy another laptop somewhere else with their stolen card numbers.
Umm, two wrongs make a funny?