[IkeaCoworker]

All he needed was a fake name, a phony address and his bank routing number.

With that and access to the sales records of customers who ordered furniture over the phone from Ikea, a 24-year-old Middle River man working at the Swedish company's call center in White Marsh was able to steal more than $400,000 by issuing refunds to himself for merchandise that customers never really returned, Baltimore County prosecutors say.

Suraj S. Samaroo, of Middle River, was arrested last week after being indicted on charges of theft and theft scheme. He was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on a cash bond of $300,000.

Samaroo worked at the Ikea call center for about a year, handling customer complaints and returns. He is accused of using legitimate customer purchase records to issue unauthorized refunds to himself.

"He would do that at a steady clip - two or three times a week - every week for a year," Adam Lippe, the prosecutor, said yesterday. "The money was sucked out of whatever big pot of Ikea gold there is and transferred to his bank account."

By the time police finished their investigation, detectives had identified $373,434.14 in fake refunds. That amount has since grown to more than $407,000 - "and Ikea's still counting," Lippe said.

Prosecutors said the yearlong scheme came to an end when Samaroo's bank noticed the unusual series of deposits and filed a report with police, which is required for any transfer of more than $10,000, lawyers in the case said.

Defense attorney T. Wray McCurdy, who is representing Samaroo, said the most shocking aspect of the case was that Ikea never noticed the thefts.

"It makes you stand back and wonder how he had access to such a scheme in the first place," McCurdy said. "Where are the supervisors? Are there any? I'm not saying he's not responsible for the loss - he is - but ... it makes you shake your head that a major corporation doesn't have enough checks and balances to prevent something like this."

After police arrested Samaroo, he wrote a five-page confession, detailing his activities for investigators, the defense attorney said. He also said that authorities seized from Samaroo's rented Middle River home several laptop computers that his client intended to send to impoverished relatives in his family's native Trinidad and some Swarovski crystal.

A 2008 Infiniti G35X, which was also seized, was the only indulgence Samaroo allowed himself, McCurdy said.

But Lippe, the prosecutor, said that Samaroo allegedly led such a suddenly lavish lifestyle that co-workers asked about his new spending habits. His explanation? That he had sold some property in Trinidad.

An Ikea supervisor who helped investigate the thefts referred questions to a corporate spokeswoman. She did not return phone messages yesterday.

SOURCE:
Ikea worker accused of giving himself fake refunds -- baltimoresun.com

[GardenOfDarwin]

Wow! All I can say is....Wow. Thanks for posting that! Yikes!

Susan

[dafogle]

WOW! I'm sure that the process for refunds will be changed to add some checks and balances ... and am really surprised that the bank is what raised the suspicion and that IKEA didn't have any idea that they were missing some money... or some inventory from all the bogus returns ... I certainly hope that the customers who's "returns" weren't real don't end up with any problems down the line (warranties ... )

Doreen

[DesignDiva]

I wonder if there was anyone higher up involved...but then again I'm the suspicious type.

[ikeaopklompen]

How on earth one could steal at least onethousand dollars each day during a whole year without Ikea noticing it? It seems to me that Ikea does not do their job on that part...
This puts my small returns worth a few euros, in a totally different perspective...

It brings me also memories from the late 90ties of a collegue of mine who, according to the rumours, confessed to steal a total of 25000 guilders (about 11350 € in todays money) out of the checkouts, because of being addicted to gambling. He/she was fired directly (normally one cannot be fired on such a short notice here), so no welfare, having a criminal record and much difficulties to get a new job. And, pay back the money.

[dalbrough]

And they give a hard time trying to return without a receipt.....

I can't imagine this went on for so long......uh, hello? Month end? year end? uh, were did the money go and why are the returned items not back in inventory - doesn't jive with me??

[kelly]

It depends if he had a way to adjust the inventory- like checking it back in manually or something. Also, sad to say, large stores have terrible problems with theft, so the inventory rarely balances. I'm not surprised the bank found it. They must comply with rigorous anti-money laundering laws. Probably the only way IKEA could have found it is if they had an audit program checking the accounts to which they were refunding and found a pattern, or where the paying account did not match the refunding account. Actually, now I am surprised- have you ever tried to get a refund when you didn't have your original credit card with you?

[DesignDiva]

Actually, now I am surprised- have you ever tried to get a refund when you didn't have your original credit card with you?

Exactly. There are so many electronic footprints that without help from someone higher up, I seriously doubt this could have happened, at least on this sort of scale.

[kelly]

At least conspiracy. And conspiracy is one of the worst things they can get you for.

[Narf]

Wow!

That said, with that accessibility to the returns system, I won't be suprised is if he picked and chose the receipts; folks who paid with cash can have the amounted credited elsewhere, so there wouldn't have been any concern who was the original purchaser.