{"id":15222,"date":"2025-02-05T19:17:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/05\/ontario-men-accused-of-using-fake-meat-barcodes-to-activate-gift-cards\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T19:17:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:17:47","slug":"ontario-men-accused-of-using-fake-meat-barcodes-to-activate-gift-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/05\/ontario-men-accused-of-using-fake-meat-barcodes-to-activate-gift-cards\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario men accused of using fake meat barcodes to activate gift cards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-socialshare=\"true\">\n<div id=\"article-fontSizer\" class=\"c-fontSizer\">\n<p>\n\t\t<button class=\"c-fontSizer__button c-fontSizer__button--decrease c-button c-button--details c-button--mini\" data-trackable=\"true\" data-trackaction=\"Font Sizer Decrease Font\" data-tooltip-title=\"Decrease text size\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Descrease article font size<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"c-icon  c-fontSizer__icon\" focusable=\"false\">\n\t\t<use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/assets\/dist\/icons\/out\/symbol\/svg\/sprite.symbol.svg?v=cv3j60zbx#font-decrease\"\/>\n\t<\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t<button class=\"c-fontSizer__button c-fontSizer__button--increase c-button c-button--details c-button--mini\" data-trackable=\"true\" data-trackaction=\"Font Sizer Increase Font\" data-tooltip-title=\"Increase text size\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Increase article font size<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"c-icon  c-fontSizer__icon\" focusable=\"false\">\n\t\t<use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/assets\/dist\/icons\/out\/symbol\/svg\/sprite.symbol.svg?v=cv3j60zbx#font-increase\"\/>\n\t<\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>Waterloo regional police say two men from the Toronto area are facing charges in connection to a <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/scam\">scam<\/a> involving meat and gifts cards at local grocery stores.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The scammers allegedly placed fraudulent barcode stickers on top of barcodes for meat at grocery stores in Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo.<\/p>\n<p>Police released a video that showed several instances of the men picking up meat and fidgeting with it before returning it to the cooler.<\/p>\n<p>The meat was priced similarly to gift cards that the dupesters had ahold of, so when a shopper picked out some meat and brought it to the counter for checkout, they did not know they were paying to activate the gift cards rather than the meat they had purchased, according to police.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h3>Get breaking National news<\/h3>\n<p>For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>They allegedly operated the scam at stores in the area a number of times between last Halloween and Jan. 29.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad\">\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Police say the duo were at a store near Erb Street West and Fischer-Hallman Road in Waterloo on Jan. 29 at around 6 p.m. when alert employees spotted the suspects placing barcodes on meat products before leaving the store.<\/p>\n<section id=\"content-dynamic-trending-stories\" class=\"l-inlineStories l-inlineStories--tile u-hide-tablet-landscape\" aria-label=\"Dynamic trending stories section\">\n<p>\n\t\t<span class=\"l-inlineStories__title c-heading c-heading--strikethrough\">Trending Now<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<ul class=\"l-inlineStories__posts c-posts c-posts--inline \">\n<li class=\"c-posts__item\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11001184\/donald-trump-jr-italy-accused-hunting-killing-rare-duck\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-posts__media \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" data-src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/donald-trump-jr-italy-hunting.jpg?quality=85&amp;strip=all&amp;w=336&amp;h=224&amp;crop=1\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-posts__details\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-posts__headlineText\" title=\"Donald Trump Jr. accused of killing rare, protected bird on trip to Italy\" data-title=\"\">Donald Trump Jr. accused of killing rare, protected bird on trip to Italy<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"c-posts__item\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/10996326\/made-in-canada-vs-product-of-canada\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-posts__media \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" data-src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/made-in-canada.jpg?quality=85&amp;strip=all&amp;w=336&amp;h=224&amp;crop=1\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-posts__details\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-posts__headlineText\" title=\"Made in Canada vs. Product of Canada: Know the difference to \u2018Buy Canadian\u2019\" data-title=\"\">Made in Canada vs. Product of Canada: Know the difference to \u2018Buy Canadian\u2019<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<p>The employees then called police and told them the pair had left the scene in a black Ford F150.<\/p>\n<p>Officers soon pulled the vehicle over and arrested the pair. A 38-year-old and a 30-year-old, both from York Region, were charged with fraud under $5,000.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, police announced further charges against them, noting their alleged involvement in seven other incidents in the area.<\/p>\n<p>They are now facing an additional seven charges of fraud under $5,000 as well as a charge of theft under $5,000.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Crime<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script defer src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;appId=318812448281278&#038;version=v3.3\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11004762\/ontario-gift-cards-meat-barcodes\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Descrease article font size Increase article font size Waterloo regional police say two men from the Toronto area are facing charges in connection to a scam involving meat and gifts cards at local grocery stores. The scammers allegedly placed fraudulent barcode stickers on top of barcodes for meat at grocery stores in Kitchener, Cambridge and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ontario men accused of using fake meat barcodes to activate gift cards - Toronto Tribune<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/05\/ontario-men-accused-of-using-fake-meat-barcodes-to-activate-gift-cards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ontario men accused of using fake meat barcodes to activate gift cards - Toronto Tribune\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Waterloo regional police say two men from the Toronto area are facing charges in connection to a scam involving meat and gifts cards at local grocery stores. 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