Officials have charged a fourth suspect in a fraud scam that caused Home Depot stores in Chicago to lose a massive chunk of money.
In an article published Thursday, CWB Chicago said it reported in May the stores were defrauded by several individuals who racked up $900 credits over 6,000 times for one purchase a few years prior:
Officials said the scam began in March 2020 when someone purchased more than $6,000 from the home improvement chain’s 2570 North Elston location. Days later, someone returned to the store and said the purchase was for a tax-exempt church. A store employee accepted the tax-exempt documents and issued the representative a $900 gift card for the tax value.
Taxes on the purchase were $555, and that receipt was recycled for three years to make over 6,000 gift cards. Many of those cards had $900 on them.
“Cashiers scanned the receipt bar code from an accomplice’s phone each time, manually entered the tax exemption information, and then cut a gift card for the difference,” the report continued, noting some of the cashiers made several gift cards for the same purchase at one time, and some had a copy of the receipt saved on their phones to use.
He said the company was investing in more security guards, lighting, and additional lighting in parking lots, along with recording towers, in order to remedy the problem.
“And it’s not a place that many of us in retail thought we’d have to be,” he added.
In December, an 83-year-old Home Depot worker in North Carolina died after reportedly being shoved by an alleged shoplifter, according to Breitbart News.
Gary Rasor, the victim, was allegedly assaulted at the store in Hillsborough when he tried to confront a man who was allegedly stealing pressure washers.
“Rasor suffered several fractured bones, and he was in the hospital for weeks and unable to walk. His condition worsened after he viewed footage of the incident for the first time, according to his wife,” the outlet said.