The Seattle-Post Intelligencer has a story about some UPC Code Spoofers caught defrauding Wal-Mart of $1.5 million over 10 years. The spoofers created fake UPC codes with a PC and affixed them to more expensive products.

Interesting – I wonder how devious they got – whether the cheaper items were researched in advance (I think they must have been) and whether they were similar to the actual item or if it didn’t matter – put a toothpaste sticker on tools, or some such thing.

This is good to keep in mind as we move toward RFID. Spoofing is a real possibility, just as it is with the current UPC system.