This isn't a story about a mom who wanted the best toys for her tot.
According to CBS Miami, Florida mother Barbara Aqueveque is facing at least five felony charges after police detectives busted her for a label-swapping scheme that made her over $30,000 a month.
Target security cameras reportedly show Aqueveque hard at work, slipping the UPC labels off of cheaper items, such as $7 cutting boards, and slapping them on to much more expensive items, like a $100 LEGO set, before heading to the checkout.
Cops discovered that Aqueveque had an eBay account where she resold the items she reportedly ripped off from superstores like Target and Walmart.
Target originally went to detectives about the suspected fraud.
“At first I thought, ‘This is crazy'", Police Detective Alex Iwaskewycz told the local CBS station in Miami. “How can it be this easy to steal this much?”
According to the Daily Mail, when cops searched Aqueveque's home, they found dozens of bags of toys.
"Greed overcame her lack of common sense," Iwaskewycz told the Mail.
Label fraud is not uncommon. In May, a software executive was caught switching labels on LEGOs at Target stores and replacing them with homemade ones.
Retailers are well-aware of these thieves, and businesses like Target have taken extensive measures to try and prevent or catch thieves. According to the Los Angeles Times, Target operates more than a dozen investigation centers and two forensics labs to crack down on retail crime. The National Retail Federation estimates that stores lose $30 billion a year to organized theft, the LA Times reported.
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