Page 20 - WBG March 2025

FEATURE

Crime Buster: UMGC Alum Manages

High-Stakes Coupon Fraud Watchdog

University of Maryland Global Campus, UMGC Global Media Center

People in the theft network made their money by reselling the
coupons, using them and then returning the discounted products
for a full-price refund, or selling them online or at flea markets.

Miller helped expose the racket in 2020. Lori Anne Talens was
sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for the fraud; her
husband received a 7-year sentence. They were also ordered
to pay $31 million in restitution. The U.S. Post Service podcast,
“Mailin’ It,” highlighted the bust in its How Postal Inspectors
Clipped a $31 Million Coupon Scam - True Crime | Mailin’ It! - The
Official USPS Podcast

Although the Talens were convicted, their scheme was far
reaching. The recent postal service arrests involved five women
who had purchased counterfeit coupons from the Talens.
Prosecutors said one suspect alone was responsible for $1.3
million in retailer losses. If convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud and
conspiracy, the five women face significant jail time and financial
penalties. The postal service became involved because the coupons
were sent through the mail.

The Talens case was featured in headlines across the globe, but it
In the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the United was not necessarily the most famous of the cases Miller worked on.
States Postal Inspection Service arrested five people—across four He earlier helped expose three Arizona women whose fake coupon
states—on federal allegations connected to a multimillion-dollar business inspired a movie, “Queenpins.”
counterfeit coupon scheme. Two weeks later, in an unrelated case,
a Massachusetts woman pleaded guilty to larceny charges related In that case, Miller accompanied law enforcement agents who
to $27,000 in fraudulent shopping coupons.
had a warrant to search the ringleader’s home. Police found not
only boxes and plastic bins containing $40 million in counterfeit
Both criminal investigations received assistance from Bud Miller, coupons, but they also came upon a cache of firearms.
a University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) alumnus
who serves as executive director of the Coupon Information “There were weapons scattered throughout the building. We
Corporation (CIC), a not-for-profit association of consumer product called it the three-second rule—you could grab a weapon from any
manufacturers dedicated to fighting coupon mis-redemption, location in the building within three seconds,” Miller said. “When
counterfeiting and fraud.
the search warrant was served, one resident had a gun in his hand.
He wisely put it down when he realized that a SWAT team was at
“Every year that passes, the fraud becomes more sophisticated,” his door.”
said Miller, who has applied his UMGC master’s degree in
international management to a career as a fraud buster.
In addition to nearly two dozen guns, the fraudsters—Phoenix
residents Robin Ramirez, Amiko Fountain and Marilyn Johnson—
Miller is no stranger to high-stakes police dramas. A few years also had purchased 21 vehicles, many of them luxury cars, a 40-
ago, he helped investigators stop one of the biggest coupon foot boat and other lavish items.
frauds on record, a $31 million scheme the FBI said ran for three
years from a Virginia home. Graphic artist Lori Anne Talens and The women were charged in 2012 with illegal control of an
her husband, Pacifico Talens Jr., used technology to manipulate enterprise, forgery, counterfeiting, fraud and trafficking in stolen
coupon barcodes and create authentic looking counterfeits that products. Ramirez, the main defendant, was sentenced to jail time,
sometimes inflated coupon discounts so much that consumers could and all three women were ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution
get products for free or nearly free. The Talens sold the coupons to the companies they bilked.
online to other fraudsters.

18 W.A.D Beyond Global