Sioux City Journal

Man accused of stealing $100,000 in Gateway computers

By Molly Montag Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, February 07, 2008

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A man who provided customer support to Gateway customers faces federal wire fraud charges after authorities say he sold $100,000 worth of computers he had fraudulently obtained through Gateway's computer system.

According to an indictment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in South Dakota, Matthew Zinn illegally obtained and sold 24 computer systems between August 2004 and April 2007.

When reached Wednesday evening, a Gateway spokeswoman could not immediately comment on the indictment.

Each alleged theft included an illegal electronic communication from Florida to North Sioux City, where Gateway's computer system is, according to the indictment.

Zinn is alleged to have manipulated Gateway's computer system to inflate the price of customer systems, order a high-end replacement and alter the shipping address on the account.

He sent the computers to himself, places where he would pick them up or directly to people to whom he resold them, the indictment says. The packages he picked up were resold on eBay.

Zinn worked for The Answer Group, which provides customer service for Gateway, according to the document.

Story Comments

KL wrote on Dec 24, 2008 11:00 PM:

" MGR - Sour grapes buddy?
Mike - Stopped at 6th grade did you? Pot calling the kettle black I'd say... "

Carol wrote on Jul 8, 2008 1:31 PM:

" I wish I would of known how bad gateway computors are before I bought one in Feb08.Ity went back 3 times with bad HDD and mother board.They replaced it with refurnished.Wow that was fair? New one never used for old refurnished.Seems like I got ripped off from Gateway. "

MGR wrote on Feb 9, 2008 8:41 AM:

" This guy only stole $100K? Think of all the lost revenue and profit dollars that Kevin Shabow lost/stole from Gateway when he ran off every good sales rep. No respect for him; especially, after he left the company because he drove it into the ground and now I have no respect for MPC Gateway when they rehired him! Nothing like doing the competition a favor. "

(uk) Unknown wrote on Feb 8, 2008 1:51 PM:

" Please stop complaining about Gateway and there parts Dell, HP etc all uses the same parts from the same manufacturers, these parts are man made so you are going to have some defective parts, its just the luck of the draw,for the $2500 that you spent i hope you were smart enough to purchase a warranty with it. then you wouldn't have to spen your own money to replace the parts, I know this is about thief but i just hate it when people bash companys and only got the 90 warranty thinking its going to last for ever, stop being cheap and purchase your extended warranty "

Travis Motdhorst wrote on Feb 7, 2008 11:53 PM:

" I think all employees should try to rip off their company at every opportunity. Business today has no loyalty to their employees and CEO pay is a gross perversion. Screw them before the screw you. "