Sanchez, Precious Anne D.
BSM41
NEWS ARTICLE from THE BALTIMORE SUN:
(http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2008-09-10/news/0809090107_1_samaroo-ikea-refunds)
Ikea worker accused of giving himself fake refunds
September 10, 2008|By Jennifer McMenamin | Jennifer
McMenamin,jennifer.mcmenamin@baltsun.com
All he needed was a fake name, a phony address and
his bank routing number.
With that and access to the sales records of customers
who ordered furniture over the phone from Ikea, a
24-year-old Middle River man working at the
Swedish company's call center in White Marsh was
able to steal more than $400,000 by issuing refunds
to himself for merchandise that customers never
really returned, Baltimore County prosecutors say.
Suraj S. Samaroo, of Middle River, was arrested last
week after being indicted on charges of theft and
theft scheme. He was being held at the Baltimore
County Detention Center on a cash bond of
$300,000.
Samaroo worked at the Ikea call center for about a
year, handling customer complaints and returns. He is
accused of using legitimate customer purchase
records to issue unauthorized refunds to himself.
"He would do that at a steady clip - two or three
times a week - every week for a year," Adam Lippe,
the prosecutor, said yesterday. "The money was
sucked out of whatever big pot of Ikea gold there is
and transferred to his bank account."
By the time police finished their investigation,
detectives had identified $373,434.14 in fake refunds.
That amount has since grown to more than $407,000
- "and Ikea's still counting," Lippe said.
Prosecutors said the yearlong scheme came to an end
when Samaroo's bank noticed the unusual series of
deposits and filed a report with police, which is
required for any transfer of more than $10,000,
lawyers in the case said.
Defense attorney T. Wray McCurdy, who is
representing Samaroo, said the most shocking aspect
of the case was that Ikea never noticed the thefts.
"It makes you stand back and wonder how he had
access to such a scheme in the first place," McCurdy
said. "Where are the supervisors? Are there any? I'm
not saying he's not responsible for the loss - he is -
but ... it makes you shake your head that a major
corporation doesn't have enough checks and balances
to prevent something like this."
After police arrested Samaroo, he wrote a five-page
confession, detailing his activities for investigators,
the defense attorney said. He also said that authorities
seized from Samaroo's rented Middle River home
several laptop computers that his client intended to
send to impoverished relatives in his family's native
Trinidad and some Swarovski crystal.
A 2008 Infiniti G35X, which was also seized, was the
only indulgence Samaroo allowed himself, McCurdy
said.
But Lippe, the prosecutor, said that Samaroo
allegedly led such a suddenly lavish lifestyle that co-
workers asked about his new spending habits. His
explanation? That he had sold some property in
Trinidad.
An Ikea supervisor who helped investigate the thefts
referred questions to a corporate spokeswoman. She
did not return phone messages yesterday.
 IKEA, a major corporation, lost nearly $407,000 from a single Ikea call center employee in a
span of not more than a year due to companys flaws in management control. Ikeas management control
apparently has so many defects that such continuous series of theft transpired without the companys
knowledge not until notified by the authorities. Some of these management control flaws are the
following: first, a regular employee engaged in refund transactions such as S. Samaroo shouldnt have
any access to crucial records like sales and customer purchase records, knowing for a fact that this type of
information is a key to fabricate the said transactions. Second, a transaction that involves money like
refunds shouldnt be processed and granted solely by a single employee. Third, transactions were made as
if there were neither supervisor nor team leaders present to screen and monitor the employees
transactions and activities. Fourth, the customers refund request is not being verified nor followed-up
further if he or she is indeed requesting such action before granting the refund requests. Lastly, the
aforementioned transaction appears to be not well-documented because no one in the company noticed
the anomalies despite the large sum of money being robbed in a steady manner by the same person.

Such incident shouldnt have happened if the management was able to monitor and document
employees performance and activities in the company regularly. Moreover, crucial records should only
be accessible to specific staffs and is subject to availability upon formal request to prevent any misuse of
the information. Transactions like refunds should be processed by a number of staffs instead of just one to
prevent any frauds or theft to take place. Furthermore, basic information encoded by the employee such as
name, address and bank accounts of the customer should be verified and processed first before the wiring
of refunds is granted. In that way, controls with regards to the outflow of money due to refund
transactions are well supported by documents thus reducing risks of any irregularities taking place.