HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that charges have been filed against a Montgomery County man for a fraudulent return scheme that cost Seagate Technology $250,000 in stolen computer hard drives.
Kwan Woo Lee, 29, of Wyncote, was charged Wednesday with corrupt organizations, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, and related offenses.
The Office of Attorney General investigation revealed that, for more than a year, Lee bought hard drives from the data storage company, then claimed they were damaged and was provided a new device — under terms he would be returning the original item. Lee did not return the original item (which was not damaged); rather he sold dozens of them on the secondary market.
“This defendant took advantage of a company’s warranty program to intentionally defraud the company and make money — that is theft,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Thanks to the hard work of my Financial Crimes Section, we were able to stop this defendant from continuing on with this scheme.”
Lee was arraigned Wednesday afternoon and bail was set at $50,000. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 10.
Per Seagate’s policy, if a faulty hard drive is not returned, the customer’s credit card is charged the full value of the new drive. However, Lee’s card was not able to be charged because he always used a prepaid card.
Lee, in total, received over 400 hard drives at 18 addresses in Montgomery and Butler counties. He used prepaid cards to facilitate 30 fraudulent returns.
Agents were able to trace email addresses and phone numbers used for the warranty claims back to Kwan Woo Lee.
This case is being prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Noelle Wilkinson of the Financial Crimes Section. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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