Crafty Scam Nets Thief Cases of Beer

A man has hit both two Giant Eagle stores in Fairlawn with a scam that allowed him to walk out with multiple cases of free beer.

The store at 2275 West Market St. called police April 16 to report that a man had conned employees there April 12.

According to the report, the man identified himself to the manager as a Tramonte Distributing employee who had come to inventory the shelves for outdated beer.

He went into the cooler and loaded six cases of Miller Lite, plus a six-pack of Miller Lite, into a shopping cart, then wheeled it out to his car and left.

The manager realized it was a scam when the other Giant Eagle store, 3750 West Market St., called on April 15 to say they had been hit and warn them of the scam.

At that store, a man matching the description gave the same story, then loaded a cart with 10 cases of Corona beer and left.

Police are investigating.