The couple from Georgia reportedly tried to defraud the retailer through the creation of multiple rewards accounts.
Fox News reported on the case, which has seen John and Analyn Douglas charged respectively with “conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud” and “conspiracy to ship stolen goods in interstate commerce”. The scheme to defraud the retailer was said to have reached around $1.4 million (€1.2 million), with Massachusetts US Attorney Carmen Ortiz commenting that the two “created more than 1,100 Staples rewards accounts, often using fictitious information”.
Douglas used a computer script to “query a Staples website and seek unclaimed customer loyalty rewards for purchases he didn’t make”, with investigators also adding that the two “used the rewards to buy merchandise at Staples retail locations throughout [the] United States”, with Analyn Douglas selling “much of the merchandise on eBay”.