Kwan Woo Lee, 29, of Wyncote (Cheltenham Township), has been accused of running a fraudulent return scheme that cost Seagate Technology $250,000 in stolen computer hard drives, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced on Wednesday, July 2.

Lee was charged with corrupt organizations, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, and related offenses.

An investigation revealed that Lee bought hard drives from the Ireland-based data storage company for more than a year, then claimed they were damaged and was provided a new device. Lee sold dozens of the original, undamaged items on the secondary market instead of returning them, Sunday said.

Per Seagate’s policy, if a faulty hard drive is not returned, the customer’s credit card is charged the full value of the new drive. However, Lee’s card was not able to be charged because he always used a prepaid card. In total, he received over 400 hard drives at 18 addresses in Montgomery and Butler counties. He used prepaid cards to facilitate 30 fraudulent returns.

“This defendant took advantage of a company’s warranty program to intentionally defraud the company and make money — that is theft,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Thanks to the hard work of my Financial Crimes Section, we were able to stop this defendant from continuing on with this scheme.”

Lee was arraigned Wednesday afternoon and bail was set at $50,000. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 10.

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