3 Charged in Theft, Resale of Nu Skin Products

A couple months old, but I haven't seen this one discussed...

From the Salt Lake City Desert News...


3 charged in theft, resale of Nu Skin products

PROVO — After allegedly stealing more than $700,000 worth of products from Nu Skin and selling them online, three Utah County residents were charged Friday with theft and conspiracy to commit theft.

From April 2009 until his arrest Thursday, Scott Lazerson was receiving stolen products from Nu Skin employees in Provo, court documents say. With Elizabeth Craig and Brady Harper, Lazerson stored products in a storage shed in Orem and sold them on eBay. Craig and Harper used their personal PayPal accounts to process the payments.

Craig and Harper told authorities they were making $20,000 to $30,000 a month in sales since they began last April. When police searched the storage shed Wednesday, they recovered 415 boxes of Nu Skin products, valued at more than $500,000.

Nu Skin Representative Kara Schneck said Lazerson worked part time for Nu Skin in 1994 and 1995. Schneck said Craig and Harper were not employees.

Court documents say Lazerson told authorities the items were given to him by two Nu Skin employees and were being donated by Nu Skin to his charity.

In addition to being charged with theft and conspiracy to commit theft, Craig and Harper were also charged with possession of stolen property.

From April 2009 until his arrest Thursday, Scott Lazerson was receiving stolen products from Nu Skin employees in Provo, court documents say. With Elizabeth Craig and Brady Harper, Lazerson stored products in a storage shed in Orem and sold them on eBay. Craig and Harper used their personal PayPal accounts to process the payments.

Craig and Harper told authorities they were making $20,000 to $30,000 a month in sales since they began last April. When police searched the storage shed Wednesday, they recovered 415 boxes of Nu Skin products, valued at more than $500,000.

Nu Skin Representative Kara Schneck said Lazerson worked part time for Nu Skin in 1994 and 1995. Schneck said Craig and Harper were not employees.

Court documents say Lazerson told authorities the items were given to him by two Nu Skin employees and were being donated by Nu Skin to his charity.

In addition to being charged with theft and conspiracy to commit theft, Craig and Harper were also charged with possession of stolen property.

The obvious question...

Don't you think someone would notice $700,000 worth of products missing?

What kind of inventory control does this company have anyhow?

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Originally Posted by Doc Bunkum

Don't you think someone would notice $700,000 worth of products missing?

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C'mon....with the asking price of some of this mlm crap? That could have just been one start up kit reported missing.

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Originally Posted by Whip

C'mon....with the asking price of some of this mlm crap? That could have just been one start up kit reported missing.

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And no doubt that fabulous stuff went for way more than retail. Only USANA sells for pennies on the dollar right??? We should consult Lenny about all this! :RpS_scared:

Soapboxmom

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Originally Posted by Doc Bunkum

Craig and Harper told authorities they were making $20,000 to $30,000 a month in sales since they began last April. When police searched the storage shed Wednesday, they recovered 415 boxes of Nu Skin products, valued at more than $500,000.

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At least someone made some money selling MLM products. Isn't that commendable and pretty much a first for the industry?

It is a quite interesting article. I've been reading for a while from anti-mlmers that their proof the product is worthless is the prices they've seen on Ebay for Nuskin products...that you can buy them for less than wholesale...the contention was that folks were garage qualifying and then trying to unload the product at any cost.

This article sheds a different light on the situation eh?

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Originally Posted by iamwil

It is a quite interesting article. I've been reading for a while from anti-mlmers that their proof the product is worthless is the prices they've seen on Ebay for Nuskin products...that you can buy them for less than wholesale...the contention was that folks were garage qualifying and then trying to unload the product at any cost.

This article sheds a different light on the situation eh?

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I guess it depends on what they were selling it for, and the quantity sold.

I mean, one could also say that they sold so much of it because it's finally being sold for what it was actually worth.

Nevertheless, stealing is bad, mmkay

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Originally Posted by King

I guess it depends on what they were selling it for, and the quantity sold.

I mean, one could also say that they sold so much of it because it's finally being sold for what it was actually worth.

Nevertheless, stealing is bad, mmkay

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Yes stealing is wrong..no doubt. But I've heard repeatedly anti-mlmers use as proof the price NuSkin products are sold on Ebay...as proof that folks were purchasing and not consuming products and then unloading their stockpile at pennies on the dollar...

Don't know if this disproves that myth, but does put a new light on it.

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Originally Posted by iamwil

Don't know if this disproves that myth, but does put a new light on it.

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That "new light" being that ONE group of thieves in ONE location were responsible for WHAT percentage of the sales of NuSkin products offered via EBay and over WHAT period of time ???

Further,

how does this case effect the offloading of non NuSkin product via EBay ??

Did said "myth" evolve BECAUSE of this event/events or did said "myth" exist BEFORE the events of the NuSkin thefts and will said "myth" persist long AFTER the stolen product/s are removed from the market ???

Not related in any way with the topic at hand, but it does concern Nu Skin.

Over on "that other forum", Chrispy is all smiles and chuckles this morning:

ForeSkin honoured with a Stevie

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Recognized as most Innovative Company of the Year!

But I thought ALL MLMs were a scam?

LINK

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Of course, it doesn't take Heiney long to jump in and respond to Doyle's wonderful post:

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Except for Mandura, mainly cause RickyB don't like Len.

Good for Nuskin!

KLH

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If it wasn't for that pair keeping the forum going, scam.com would be dying an even slower death - at least in the MLM section.

Just sayin', ya know?

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Originally Posted by littleroundman

how does this case effect the offloading of non NuSkin product via EBay ??

Did said "myth" evolve BECAUSE of this event/events or did said "myth" exist BEFORE the events of the NuSkin thefts and will said "myth" persist long AFTER the stolen product/s are removed from the market ???

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I don't know how much MLM product moves on ebay at less than you can purchase it elsewhere...I don't buy or sell on Ebay...but these fellows were moving hundreds of thousands of dollars in product at 20-30k per month...that is pretty good sales...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doc Bunkum

Not related in any way with the topic at hand, but it does concern Nu Skin.

Over on "that other forum", Chrispy is all smiles and chuckles this morning:

ForeSkin honoured with a Stevie



Of course, it doesn't take Heiney long to jump in and respond to Doyle's wonderful post:



If it wasn't for that pair keeping the forum going, scam.com would be dying an even slower death - at least in the MLM section.

Just sayin', ya know?

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I made mention over there, so I might as well over here... It is truly funny how both 'sides' tend to talk about each other so much.

I ignore the threads pursuant to the gossip and inuendo that goes back and forth...but they are becoming more frequent on both sites.

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Originally Posted by iamwil

I don't know how much MLM product moves on ebay at less than you can purchase it elsewhere...I don't buy or sell on Ebay...but these fellows were moving hundreds of thousands of dollars in product at 20-30k per month...that is pretty good sales...

I made mention over there, so I might as well over here... It is truly funny how both 'sides' tend to talk about each other so much.

I ignore the threads pursuant to the gossip and inuendo that goes back and forth...but they are becoming more frequent on both sites.

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I tried to at least say something here and got ignored, tried there and got blasted, so I gave up. Just stop brining the subject up, and hope it dies the horrible death it deserves.

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Originally Posted by King

I tried to at least say something here and got ignored, tried there and got blasted, so I gave up. Just stop brining the subject up, and hope it dies the horrible death it deserves.

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(my bolding)


Well, I missed that, or I would have agreed. As for me, I only hope it dies here--it matters not what happens elsewhere.

JMO.

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Originally Posted by King

I tried to at least say something here and got ignored, tried there and got blasted, so I gave up. Just stop brining the subject up, and hope it dies the horrible death it deserves.

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Originally Posted by Emet

(my bolding)


Well, I missed that, or I would have agreed. As for me, I only hope it dies here--it matters not what happens elsewhere.

JMO.

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here here...(pounding his cane on the floor in agreement)

Rise above the fray!

What do you call the person that punches out the bully?

or the person that tells stories about people that gossip?



but back to the OP....


and amazingly similar to the above....

from an anti scam anti mlm perspective....

if someone steals from a perceived scammer or mlmer...

and then undermines prices and reputations by selling on the open market for pennies on the dollar...

is that in anyway justifiable criminal activity??

or if not in any way just deserts for your perceived evil NuSkin?

A modern day Robin Hood, eh?

I don't know, I would still think of said person as a thief. The reprocussions of this (selling for pennies on the dollar as you said) is an indirect, ironic, funny side note, as I'm sure the thieves were not doing it for this reason.

A thief is a thief is a thief.