A person is accused of conning Dwelling Depot of $300,000 by taking a bunch of doorways with out shopping for them, then getting refunds for them in retailer credit score

• A 26-year-old man is accused of dishonest Dwelling Depot of $300,000 value of retailer credit score.
• He’d faux to be a contractor, and took Andersen doorways from 61 shops totally free, prosecutors mentioned.
• Then, he would return the doorways, and refund them on the retailer’s service division, per officers.

A Connecticut man is accused of defrauding Dwelling Depot of $300,000 in retailer credit score by returning doorways he by no means purchased.

Alexandre Henrique Costa-Mota, 26, would faux to be a contractor and accumulate Andersen doorways from Dwelling Depot shops throughout eight totally different states, the US Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Rhode Island wrote on Wednesday.

Dressed as a contractor and carrying a black portfolio with a yellow measuring tape clipped to his pants, Costa-Mota visited 61 totally different shops between June 2021 to February 2022, investigators mentioned, per courtroom data seen by Insider.

Costa-Mota would take the doorways and cargo them onto a lumber cart, mentioned the Secret Service agent who investigated the case.

As a part of his modus operandi, Costa-Mota would then stroll to the shop’s service division to get the doorways refunded, utilizing pretend driver’s licenses or IDs with pretend names to clear Dwelling Depot’s safety checks, the agent mentioned.

At occasions, Costa-Mota would first depart the shop with the doorways, then return later for the refunds, the agent added.

When some shops rejected Costa-Mota’s receipt-less returns, he would simply depart with the doorways and go to a different retailer to refund them, the agent mentioned.

Costa-Mota obtained 370 retailer credit from his virtually year-long scheme, that are valued at $297,332, officers mentioned. 

Prosecutors mentioned a few of the doorways he stole have been valued at round $350 to $400 every. Some Andersen doorways will be offered for hundreds of {dollars} at Dwelling Depot.

Officers additionally mentioned surveillance footage confirmed that Costa-Mota usually wore the identical pair of sneakers and had a gold watch on his left wrist when retrieving and refunding the doorways.

He’s being charged with wire fraud and conspiracy, and has been detained with out bail.

An lawyer for Costa-Mota didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched outdoors common enterprise hours.