PORTLAND, Ore. — Two former Kmart employees are accused of creating nearly 4,000 fake Kmart online accounts and stealing more than $22,000 in fraudulent gift cards.
The Oregonian reported 19-year-old Guadalupe Aguilar-Govea of Portland and 19-year-old Allan James Parsons of Gresham were arraigned Friday on multiple identity theft and theft charges.
Gresham police say the two took advantage of the store’s frequent shopper promotion, which provided $5, $10 or $15 gift cards to random customers during the holiday shopping season.
They obtained hundreds of the gift cards, then created fictitious “Shop Your Way” online accounts using fictitious identities.
They were caught after Kmart learned they were putting items on layaway and paying the accounts off with the gift cards.
Court records show they spent about $5,000 before they were caught.
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