In a case paying homage to a sprawling reward card rip-off that value Chicago-area Residence Depot shops greater than $6 million, a Glen Ellyn girl stands accused of orchestrating an elaborate three-year refund scheme that defrauded a nationwide retailer of greater than $900,000 by exploiting the corporate’s return system and on-line gross sales insurance policies, in keeping with a newly unsealed federal prison criticism.
Federal prosecutors say Iryna Boguslavska, 40, repeatedly purchased high-end merchandise on-line, then returned the identical gadgets or look-alike merchandise a number of instances for refunds, and infrequently falsely claimed the products have been misplaced within the mail to safe further payouts.
The criticism doesn’t title the retailer, however surveillance pictures included within the submitting have been taken inside TJ Maxx shops.
The U.S. Secret Service started investigating after the corporate’s company investigators uncovered an uncommon sample of repeated refunds between 2020 and 2023 tied to a number of aliases, electronic mail addresses, and bank cards linked to Boguslavska, in keeping with the criticism.
Boguslavska allegedly wore face coverings, together with medical masks and a burqa, to hide her id whereas conducting the fraudulent transactions. She can also be accused of utilizing a mix of faux names and a number of Chicago-area addresses, together with a rental in Lakeview and a UPS retailer in Lincoln Park.
In a single instance, Boguslavska allegedly bought a $637 floral gown on-line in November 2021, returned it six instances for refunds at completely different shops, then claimed it was “misplaced within the mail” to acquire a further payout.
In one other case, she allegedly purchased a $425 swimsuit in June 2022 and obtained 11 refunds for a similar order inside two weeks, typically substituting a less expensive merchandise for the unique merchandise.
Investigators say she visited retail places throughout Chicagoland, together with shops in Lombard, Oak Brook, Berwyn, Broadview, and Melrose Park, usually making a number of returns in a single day.
The criticism states that legislation enforcement surveillance groups later noticed Boguslavska utilizing scissors and packing supplies to rewrap merchandise exterior an Oak Brook retailer. On one other event, undercover brokers allegedly noticed her affixing luxurious value tags to cheap clothes exterior her Glen Ellyn house.
A search of her house turned up what prosecutors described as proof of a large-scale fraud operation, together with $201,000 in authentic merchandise, $109,000 in fraudulent gadgets, 164 retailer reward playing cards value greater than $10,600, 519 American Categorical reward playing cards, $53,000 in checks, and $6,000 in money, in keeping with the criticism.
Financial institution data reviewed by investigators allegedly present that between 2019 and 2023, Boguslavska obtained tons of of credit from the corporate totaling greater than $208,000 on a single bank card—triple the quantity she truly spent on purchases throughout that interval. Comparable patterns have been discovered on her different accounts, the criticism stated.
The federal wire fraud fees are primarily based on the truth that the refunds and bank card transactions have been processed in a number of places throughout state strains and in Canada.
Within the spring of 2023, Prepare dinner County prosecutors charged a number of Residence Depot staff and accomplices with defrauding the corporate of an estimated $6 million by issuing hundreds of $900 refunds for a single buy starting in March 2020.
Final yr, a Goal worker within the West Loop was charged with issuing $36,000 value of reward playing cards to herself in a month-long refund rip-off.
