“Amazon’s customer service policy allows, under certain circumstances, customers to receive a replacement before they return a broken item,” the release said, suggesting the originally received item was never returned. For Amazon, it’s sometimes more cost-effective to replace items following such claims, rather than investigate them. The company has safeguards in place to flag up potential violators of the system, but the Finans reportedly got around this by creating “hundreds” of false identities.

And the story doesn’t end there.

Receiving more goods than they knew what to do with, the couple passed some of the stolen items to an alleged accomplice in New York named Danijel Glumac, who earlier this year was charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering.

“The Finans allegedly sold the stolen electronics out of their van to Glumac at a price substantially below their retail value,” the release said. “Glumac then marked them up and sold and shipped them to the New York entity, which in turn sold them to the public. Glumac also allegedly advised the Finans on how to evade detection by Amazon,” the Attorney’s Office said.

It reported that in total, Glumac allegedly made more than $1.2 million via sales of the goods, paying around $725,000 to the Finans.

The couple recently pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering in a U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, with sentencing hearings set for November 9.

Both charges carry a maximum jail time of 20 years. Under the terms of a plea agreement, the Finans will be ordered to pay Amazon the total value of the goods — $1,218,504 — making the “freebies” possibly the most expensive ever received.

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Source: Digital Trends