Women Steal $10,000 of Ink Cartridges in US

Office Depot has asked its employees to look out for two women who are stealing printer ink in the Puget Sound area in Washington state.

An internal memo said managers believe the two have taken at least $7,200 in ink cartridges from the Lynwood store, by stuffing them into large handbags, KOMO news reported. The two women have also been seen at four other stores, including the Airport Way and Aurora Avenue North locations in Seattle, where the remainder of the $10,000-worth of cartridges may have been stolen, police believe.

In 2011, Office Depot employee Dion Alexander was given 16 months in prison for dealing more than $500,000 in toner from the company's Kent warehouse.

The US Department of Commerce estimates at least 10,000 Craigslist postings and over 300,000 eBay listings at any time are for toner and ink cartridges. Local Cartridge World franchisee James Kinsky said: "Brand name cartridges are very expensive, they are more expensive that Chanel No. 5. So if people can steal them, they can sell them on the internet for quite a bit of money. Doing it right in the middle of the day seems pretty brazen. I assume they will catch up to them sooner or later.”

Source: Two US women steal $10,000 of ink cartridges