Cost of Parts: 19 Cents; Cost of Shipping: $998,798!!!

[iraghava]

These Americans never cease to amaze me, here's a look at the latest story!

A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.

C&D's fraudulent billing started in 2000, Stroot, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's chief agent in Raleigh, North Carolina, said in an interview. ``As time went on they got more aggressive in the amounts they put in.''

The price the military paid for each item shipped rarely reached $100 and totaled just $68,000 over the six years in contrast to the $20.5 million paid for shipping, she said.

Linky to the source

[vkochar]

Its called Innovative Thinking. Hehehe. Brainy guy he was, but lasted not long.

In my business ( Shoes / Footwear & Leather ), I come across people who look like saints but the amount of '' ghapla '' or '' fraud '' that they do can put a normal businessman to shame. Americans though have always been very sleazy, Indians now not too far behind

Interesting piece of new BTW. Cheers !!!

[madan80]

wow - thats ingenuity. I guess its like how they did the "round of thing" in all banking transactions and transfered it to an account - well - someone found a screw!

[fiery enzyme]

Alas! They did not know when to stop and when to pull out.

[sujaylahiri]

Originally Posted by vkochar

Its called Innovative Thinking. Hehehe. Brainy guy he was, but lasted not long.

Twin sisters.