Australian mum found guilty of self-checkout scam

  • 15/02/2017
Coles basket next to a woman shopping at self-checkout
Coles and Woolworths stores near Ipswich were targeted (Getty)

An Australian woman has pleaded guilty to scamming five supermarkets out of almost A$5000 by gluing barcodes onto different items before scanning them through self-serve checkouts.

Queensland mum Kylie Milner, 35, cut out barcodes from cheap fried noodle packets and stuck them onto more expensive supermarket items.

A police raid of her suburban home revealed copies of the fake barcodes on her computer.

Police also found several expensive supermarket items with the dodgy barcodes attached, including lamb, frozen seafood, beauty products - and two coffee machines valued at over $200 each.

She targeted supermarkets around her area of Ipswich, using the checkouts up to twice a day over three months.

Milner was convicted of 31 counts of fraud, three counts of attempted fraud and one count of possessing a drug-related utensil.

Her lawyer told the court she was struggling financially and bankrupt, adding she was motivated "largely by need rather than greed".

She was handed a nine-month suspended sentence, fined A$150 and ordered to repay A$1500 to Coles and A$2000 to Woolworths.

Newshub.