This kind of story deserves its own new word: Chutzpidity. Because a guy in Minnesota had both in equal and voluminous supply for this particular scam. Over a full year, this guy bought nearly 200 games, worth more than $23,000, replaced them with blanks, got the refunds, then sold the real games on eBay. The re-sale netted him almost $19,000.

Now, while the alleged scammer was clever enough to forge a label on the blanks, and then repackage the games to make them look brand new (and also avoid an inspection that would discover the blanks) did he honestly think no one would notice 192 REFUNDS on a credit card and start asking questions? It takes enormous gall or a lack of brains, or both — hence chuzpidity — to keep going with this after getting $10K in tax-free ill-gotten booty and leaving a paper trail that stretches to Sioux Falls.

Someone finally did, and he was collared in October 2007. Best part? His 68-year-old mother is implicated too. She faces a single felony count of "theft by swindle," which is an awesome charge. If she was a dude I'd imagine her to look like Snidely Whiplash.

All of the above is alleged, not proven in court. Just to stay on the safe side.

Rural Albert Lea Man Accused of Video Game Scam [Post-Bulletin of Austin, Minn.]

Note, this is a very popular story for a small-town paper's web site. The cached text is here

Because Everything on Craigslist is For Real

I'm looking for an apartment. Haven't had to do this in about three years. So yesterday, I'm on Craigslist and I find the Cognitive Dissonance Bargain of a lifetime: Two bedrooms, 1300 sq feet, air conditioning, parking, cat-friendly, in San Francisco's white-approved Noe Valley, for $1300.

"That's a Nigerian 419 scam," my friend at work said. "They put these dream homes up and try to sucker you into placing a holding fee or deposit."

I was crushed. I could take the relentless fakery and heartbreak of trolling for online sex in the spam-soaked CL casual encounters. But housing? Was nothing sacred? And now there is this:

Wal-Mart has long been known for its liberal return policy, but one Xbox 360 owner took it too far. Probably wondering exactly what to do with the discarded chassis of his Xbox 360, presumably following a chromed out shell installation, the owner capitalized on a lazy returns department and walked away with cash, leaving his refuse in Wal-Mart's hands. Looks like he's a med school drop out or something, as the eviscerated console came stuffed with a used copy of Comprehensive Medical Assisting and some random cables. It's all terribly upsetting, the kind of deplorable behavior you wouldn't wish upon your least-liked local Supercenter employee.

So someone returned an xbox at our store.... [YouGamers Forums via CVG]

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