Woman Pleads Guilty to Massive eBay Designer Bag Scam

By Aimée Lutkin  |  December 28, 2016 | 6:25pm
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If you have a secret list of ways to scam $1 million, you can scratch off “Hand Bag Insta,” because this lady has already done it.

The Daily Mail reports that a woman named Praepitcha Smatsorabudh, who was based in Arlington, VA, at the time of her ingenious crimes, was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Wednesday for defrauding 60 different stores across 12 states out of $400,00 of designer hand bags. Smatsorabudh’s scheme was simple: she bought a Burberry bag, then returned a Chinese knock-off, pocketing the money she’d get from selling the real thing on eBay:

Investigators discovered that Smatsorabudh bought handbags every week between late 2014 and the end of 2015.
In an email to one of the knock-off handbag suppliers in September 2014, Smatsorabudh allegedly said: ‘The best fake bag I’ve ever seen! Can you send me more … from this factory. They make bag IMPaCABLE [sic]!!!!’
She would usually target T.J. Maxx. At one point, she was the company’s biggest online customer in the world.

Smatsorabudh posted photos of many of her purchases on Instagram, under the handle “richgirlscollection,” and though it’s hard to know if these are real or fake, there sure are a lot of fancy bags on there:

As the Daily Mail points out, the rest of the account is mostly pics of fancy sushi and other high-end living signifiers, like working out at the gym and high-rise views. She was painting a life of luxury, replete with leather totes. Always look to your brand, my scammies.

Smatsorabudh was arrested after a Homeland Security officer bought one of her bags online in a sting operation that led to law enforcement finding 572 bags, real and fake, in her home. Smatsorabudh ultimately pled guilty to all charges, telling the courtroom, “What I did was so wrong. I deserve to be in jail.”

You said it, sister.

 
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