A woman shoplifted thousands of pounds worth of groceries from a self-service check-out by putting fake stickers on them.

Kylie Milner, 35, photocopied barcodes for fried noodles then glued them onto sticky labels.

She then put her stickers onto more expensive products, tricking the till into thinking her shopping was worth less than it actually was.

Once or twice a day she would go to the shops and take meat, coffee machines, protein powder, toilet paper, disinfectant and sheet sets using her technique.

The scam went on for three months before she was caught by staff who noticed she always looked nervous while going to pay.

She targeted Coles and Woolworths supermarkets in Australia, stealing more than $4,500 of products, the equivalent of around £2,755.

When police searched her house they found the fake barcodes and glue sticks, the Queensland Times reports.

Karen, a mother from Ipswich near Brisbane, was taken to court.

Her defence lawyer Matthew Fairclough said she was ‘struggling financially’ and bankrupt, motivated by ‘need rather than greed’.

However, magistrate Virginia Sturges said she had probably stolen a lot more than the amount which had been discovered.

Milner admitted 31 counts of fraud and was given a nine month prison sentence, suspended for three years.

She was ordered to pay $1545 compensation to Coles and $2070 to Woolworths. She was also fined $150.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Jen Mills

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