Two men accused of running a nationwide retail theft operation that prosecutors say netted more than $5.6 million in stolen goods were scheduled to be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Brian Vinh Pham, 29, of Arlington, Texas, and Romar Aragon Noto, 22, of North Hills, California, face a three-count federal indictment charging conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering.
The arraignment was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington and set for 11 a.m. Friday, according to KIRO 7 News. Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd announced the court date on Nov. 12, and the FBI is investigating the case, according to the Mercer Island Reporter. Prosecutors say Pham and Noto led a scheme that ran from April 2023 to February 2026 and targeted four online retailers.
Fake Returns and a Website Glitch
According to prosecutors, Pham and Noto exploited retail return policies to obtain fraudulent refunds and took advantage of a website glitch to receive products without paying for them. The suspects allegedly claimed refunds after retailer return labels were scanned but never sent back the merchandise, and the station's report says the group used empty boxes or envelopes bearing those return labels to make it look like packages had actually been shipped.
The scheme allegedly sought more than $3.2 million worth of goods through fraudulent refunds, per the Mercer Island Reporter's account of the indictment. One home improvement retailer paid out $124,000 in refunds for more than 200 expander tools that were never returned, which Pham and Noto are accused of reselling on Amazon Marketplace for $96,000. The same retailer was defrauded of more than 2,800 items valued at over $1.4 million, according to prosecutors.
Tankless Water Heaters and Stolen Tumblers
The group also obtained more than $162,000 in refunds for more than 350 tankless water heaters, prosecutors said, then resold 297 of the units on Amazon Marketplace for over $181,000. A website glitch tied to a tumbler manufacturer allegedly caused canceled bulk orders to be fulfilled and shipped anyway without payment, after the manufacturer had already issued more than $53,000 in refunds for over 1,000 stainless-steel tumblers that were never returned.
Prosecutors say the group coordinated more than 7,000 orders for over 150,000 insulated stainless-steel tumblers worth $6.5 million through Discord, ultimately stealing more than 55,000 tumblers valued at $2.4 million across 2,700 orders, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The Mercer Island Reporter separately reported that the men exploited a retailer website glitch to obtain more than 55,000 pieces of merchandise without payment, and that the group targeted four retailers in all.
Clothing Retailers Also Hit
Two online clothing retailers were targeted as well. One lost 15,000 garments worth over $1 million that were allegedly resold in bulk to third-party resellers, while another was defrauded of $767,000 in clothing across roughly 900 orders in which refunds were claimed but items were never returned.
Altogether, court documents say the defendants attempted to steal more than $9.7 million worth of goods and successfully obtained more than $5.6 million worth of stolen products, the Mercer Island Reporter reported. Pham and Noto collected more than $3 million by reselling stolen merchandise on Amazon Marketplace and to third-party resellers and wholesalers, according to prosecutors.
Shell Companies and Cross-Country Shipments
Investigators allege Pham and Noto set up multiple business entities and bank accounts to run the scheme and move the proceeds, then transferred funds between their corporate accounts — conduct that forms the basis of the money laundering charges. The pair allegedly stored tumbler inventory in warehouses in Texas and California.
The indictment describes 24 orders shipped from Renton to Texas and one stolen item shipped from California to Auburn, with the shipments occurring around January and April 2024, respectively, according to the Mercer Island Reporter. More broadly, the retail theft ring is accused of transporting stolen property across the country between April 2023 and February 2026.
What the Charges Carry
Conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, while money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The transportation charge falls under 18 U.S.C. § 2314, which covers transferring in interstate or foreign commerce goods, wares, merchandise, securities, or money valued at $5,000 or more while knowing them to have been stolen, converted, or taken by fraud, according to the U.S. Code.
Refund-fraud schemes targeting online retailers have surfaced in other federal cases in recent years, though each remains a separate matter from the Seattle indictment. In one case, 11 co-conspirators were sentenced for conspiring to commit wire fraud in a scheme that targeted numerous online retailers and caused millions of dollars in losses, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Northern District of Oklahoma. A separate Seattle case saw a Pennsylvania man plead guilty to wire fraud and money laundering tied to his own fraudulent online shopping refund operation, per the FBI.
