Woman's fake coupons cost manufacturers 31 Million

[Opti]

www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-virginia-woman-perfected-the-art-of-making-fake-coupons-she-s-now-going-to-prison-for-it/ar-AAOy7Wm?ocid=msedgntp


“Talens perfected the art of counterfeiting coupons,” federal prosecutor Joseph Kosky wrote in court documents. “Her skill was such that the coupons she created were virtually indistinguishable from genuine [ones].”

Talens’s tools were glossy paper, corporate logos and a computer she used to stitch together disparate text, pictures and bar codes to make what are known as “Frankenstein” counterfeits, all while keeping track of everything on a spreadsheet. Over a little more than three years, federal investigators said Talens, 41, and her husband, Pacifico, cheated manufacturers and merchants of more than $31 million by producing bogus coupons that gave customers merchandise at steep discounts — or for free.

But they weren’t quite good enough. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Lori Ann Talens to 12 years in prison for running what prosecutors called one of the largest coupon scams in history after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple counts of fraud.

After homing in on the Talenses as the culprits, federal law enforcement officers raided their home in Virginia Beach. During the search, agents seized nearly $1 million worth of fake coupons and found more than 13,000 coupon designs on their computer. By comparing those designs to known counterfeits in circulation, the Coupon Information Corporation determined the Talenses had fleeced manufacturers and sellers out of $31.8 million.



In a separate scheme, Talens defrauded Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program out of roughly $43,000 over about four years.

I don't even know what to say about this, maybe some other posters do.

[Anne_in_VA]

I saw this in our local paper.  Amazing!  Just think what they could do if the had a legal objective.

[Opti]

Sept 17, 2021 13:20:34 GMT -5 Anne_in_VA said:

I saw this in our local paper.  Amazing!  Just think what they could do if the had a legal objective.

People say this often in regards to stuff like this, but I think its far easier to exploit holes of a given system than to create a new product and a market for it. Crimes cuts out a step or more. Instead of trying to make enough money to buy or get X, just steal X or talk someone out of their money. Faster. Simpler.