By Monica Hernandez - bio | email
JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - A laptop scam has been running at the fairgrounds for the last week. And authorities say they've captured the men behind it.
Eddie Handford, 45, and Frank Hamilton, 54, are each charged with two counts of trademark infringement and two counts of illegal sale of goods bearing counterfeit labels. Each count carries up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
Hinds County officials said the men were trying to sell blocks of wood, covered in duct tape and bubble wrap, as laptops. They placed a Toshiba label on the duct tape, and another fake label had a price tag.
The men were also trying to pass off binders filled with paper as laptops.
"By the time you take it and get it home, you find you've purchased a block of wood, you may as well throw it in the fireplace. It's no good," said Lt. Jeffery Scott, public information officer with the Hinds County Sheriff's Department.
The men were captured Thursday, after they tried to sell the counterfeit goods to an off-duty state trooper, who took down their license plate number.
"This type of thing wouldn't happen if people weren't trying to get something for nothing. But it's very dangerous because it takes a lot of money out of the pocket of the consumer," said Lt. Scott.
Officials said no one at the fairgrounds bought the knock-off laptops, although there may have been previous victims.
The men were also trying to sell fake gold chains, a camcorder, an iPod, and porn.
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