Man arrested in alleged bar-code scam in Syracuse

Syracuse police have arrested a man on investigation of more than 30 counts of forgery in connection with fake bar codes.

Police were first called to a Wal-Mart store after a man tried to return a purchased item using a suspicious driver's license.

"He claimed he had no ID," said Syracuse Police Sgt. Tracy Jensen. "He gave me a paper driver's license. I went back to my car and it came back not valid."

The man finally gave him a driver's license, Jensen said, but the number didn't match the paper ID. The man was arrested and officers searched his car.

"In the vehicle was a label maker, a laptop computer with a bunch of bar-code labels," Jensen said.

Police questioned the man, whom they allege would put the counterfeit bar codes over merchandise and to lower the price. A $100 item could be bought for as little as $24.95, police said.

"He'll take them back to Wal-Mart, and without a receipt, they'd give him full credit," Jensen said.

The 30-year-old man was booked into the Davis County Jail on investigation of forgery and criminal tampering. Bail was set at $150,000, jail booking records indicated.

Police have dealt with this type of scam before.

Syracuse police had a similar case last year. In Provo, two men were arrested in 2005 in a scam that netted more than $10,000 from Utah County shops. In Tennessee, four people were charged in 2005 in a price-switching scheme that allegedly defrauded Wal-Mart stores of more than $1.5 million.

Jensen said stores are trying to stop bar-code scams by removing self-checkout kiosks or by moving away from price-tag guns to UPC codes pre-stamped on the products.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com