Man tricks cashiers into handing over $100,000 in cash with sleight-of-hand, feds say
A Canadian man stole more than $109,000 by using “sleight-of-hand and other ruses” to trick cashiers into handing him cash in 11 states, according to officials.
The 38-year-old man traveled to the United States from South Korea on March 1 on a visitor visa, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
In the six months that followed, the man traveled to stores in 11 states and tricked cashiers into handing him money, officials said.
“(He) sometimes claimed that he and his family collected $100 bills and would ask the cashier to show him those from the cash register so he could examine them. (He) would then surreptitiously place some of the bills into his sleeve or pocket,” officials said in the news release.
The man traveled to a Walmart in St. Peters, Missouri, where he stole $2,420; a store in Granite City, Illinois, stealing $6,900; and a Walmart in Arnold, Missouri, stealing $5,100, according to officials.
Court records say that between March 23 and June 8, the man stole more than $33,000 from 30 different Walmart stores in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
In total, he stole $67,700 from various Walmart locations, officials said.
The man then wired the stolen money to his bank accounts in Canada, court records say.
He was arrested Aug. 22 in Connecticut, with $5,388 on him, officials said. Officials said he admitted to stealing more than $109,000.
Authorities seized almost $70,000 from two of his bank accounts according to the release.
He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. He’s scheduled to be sentenced March 1.
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