Via The Washington Post:

A mother and son stole more than $2 million in expensive toys by stashing them inside the boxes of cheaper products that they bought at Toys R Us stores across the U.S.

[…]

Michael and Margaret Pollara visited 139 Toys R Us in 27 states, including California, Hawaii and New York, buying nearly $7,000 worth of small-ticket items to fuel their scam, according to the affidavit. Authorities were able to track Michael Pollara’s purchases across the country because he used a Toys R Us rewards card for all of his purchases.

This was too juicy not to pass up. To me, there are several of things wrong with this story.

• How is it that Toys R Us didn't notice that they had lost $2 million in inventory? Are they really do that well these days? I just don't think of Toys R Us being that profitable these days.



• Why didn't any of the hiding of the more expensive items in the inexpensive item's boxes not set off any alarms? What kind of security is Toys R Us running?



• For that matter, why didn't anyone notice the small, unboxed items hiding around the stores?

I mean, really. I'm having a hard time deciding which way I want to lean on this story. Do I give this team a thumbs up because they actually pulled the caper off? Do I instead wish to see them punished for stealing from Toys R Us which in turn had an impact on the flailing economy? Or, do I instead blame Toys R Us for not running a tighter ship?

The mind boggles.