#InstaRichGirl: The sneaky scheme that made this woman €1 million
We're going to give this girl props, because GOD, it was a clever scheme, but all the same, super deceitful and totally wrong.
A woman living in Arlington, Texas, hatched an inventive plan to steal designer handbags.
Now, the woman, Praepitcha Smatsorabudh, wasn't going to leg it into a shop and make a run for it with a Gucci Soho, nope, she had something way smarter up her sleeve.
Praepitcha decided to fuel her handbag obsession by buying designer bags from department stores, and then a few days later, she'd return a knock-off.
She was sentenced last week to 30 months in prison, however, the judge was quite impressed by her way of stealing.
"I think what you did was ingenious," said Judge Gerald Lee according to the Washington Post.
"It's just stealing, but the Internet has given us so many more ways to steal. I thought I'd seen everything."
For the past number of years, the handbag-addict bought the likes of Gucci, Burberry and Fendi pieces off department store websites. She'd then show up to the department store a few days later to return a realistic, but fake knock-off she had ordered from China or Hong Kong.
She also sold bags to people through Instagram or eBay at full price. You can see on her old Instagram account, Rich Girls Collection, how many of these designer bags she had.
In December 2015, an undercover Homeland Security agent posed as a customer on eBay. He bought a 'real' Celine handbag from her and traced it back to a Chinese knock-off store.
The agent then discovered that Praepitcha hit more than 60 stores across 12 states in the US. When her home was raided, they also discovered 572 handbags in her possession.
At the end of last year, the con artist pleaded guilty to wire fraud. She was sentenced to three years of supervised release and must pay €400,000 in restitution and the same amount in forfeiture.
Lesson learned.
