Logo for home products store TJ Maxx on shopping cart in Concord, California, October 14, 2021. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
(FOX 9) - Two women were arrested in Minnesota for allegedly using fake receipts to steal from TJ Maxx and other retail stores in a nationwide fraud scheme.
The two Texas women are accused of traveling to 23 states and using fake receipts to return merchandise for cash at TJX stores, the parent corporation for T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and others.
According to the criminal complaint, the two women were involved in 32 reported incidents in Minnesota, 16 of which were in Hennepin County. Between May and September 2022, nearly $10,000 worth of merchandise was returned. TJX lost approximately $100,000 from the fraud scheme.
Police arrested the women on March 6 they said the two were seen on surveillance video at Mall of America returning handbags and luggage that were not purchased at any TJX store.
As part of the scheme one of the women would give an altered receipt to the cashier and request a refund, charges say. The women did not do the refunds together but were seen on surveillance video and photos in the same store.
The women were staying at a hotel in Minnesota while allegedly participating in the scheme, and officers with the St. Louis Park Police Department obtained a search warrant for the hotel room. While executing the search warrant law enforcement said they found a printer, blank sales tags with the same SKU, false receipts, firearm parts, fake identifications, phones and a laptop.
Police say the sales tags and receipts were similar to the ones used during the returns, according to the charges.
The two were each charged with one count of theft by swindle. One of the women is also on parole for murder in Texas, according to court documents.
The judge set their bail at $150,000, and they both remain in custody at Hennepin County Jail.