Lego Scam at Walmart Uncovered In Stafford: Police

STAFFORD, VA—A man who repeatedly snookered a Walmart on Garrisonville Road by receiving refunds for Lego block sets that weren't the same ones he bought from the store's website was arrested Friday, according to the Stafford County Sheriff's Office. Christopher Lee Edward Taylor, 30, was charged with three felony counts of obtaining money by false pretenses.

In all, Taylor bought more than $1,800 worth of Legos online on three separate occasions. Each time, according to public information officer Amanda Vicinanzo, he returned the boxes with items inside that weren't part of the original packages. "They were still Legos," she said Friday, "but they were just random Legos (not matching the ones advertised) in the returned boxes."

So what happened to the Legos in the original boxes? Seems Taylor put them up for sale on his eBay account, describing them, in part, as "No Box."

His scam began to unravel last Sunday when the store's loss prevention officer told police he had watched on camera a customer returning a several boxes of Legos on multiple occasions:

• On Dec. 30, he returned Lego boxed sets valued at $593.83 and was reimbursed with a Walmart gift card.
• On Jan. 19, he returned Lego sets valued at $737.04 and again was reimbursed with a gift card.
• On Jan. 27, he returned Lego sets valued at $526.45 and received reimbursement on his Visa card.

Employees then found the contents of the returned sets didn't match the description on the boxes.

Image via Pixabay