Bethlehem Township police investigating a more than $1,700 theft from the Lowe’s at Southmont Plaza unraveled a complex scam and charged two 18-year-olds from Michigan with various crimes, court papers say.
Officers were notified by loss prevention on Oct. 7 that the two men made purchases of tools, air fresheners and Mastercard gift cards on Oct. 5 at the store in the 4400 block of Birkland Place, according to court documents that lay out what police say happened.
The men “showed the cashier that they had credit cards with ‘cash’ instructions indicating that the cashier needed to select the cash button on the cash register so the (men) could properly use their credit cards,” court papers say.
“In doing so, the (men) deceived the cashier into processing their transactions as cash transactions not credit card transactions. The store never received any money for the transactions. The (men) left the store with merchandise and activated gift cards without paying” for them, the court documents say.
Police executed a search warrant on the company that processes the Mastercard gift cards and learned the men used the eight gift cards to buy four Visa gift cards at a township Walmart, court papers say.
The company that processes the Visa gift cards voluntarily told investigators that two of the Visa gift cards were converted to cash at a Walmart in Whitehall Township, court papers say. Another of the Visa gift cards was used at various places in Michigan, including a…
