IONA, Fla. — Investigators are looking for a couple accused of running a fraud scheme in Target stores all over Florida.

AirPods were a hot-ticket item this Holiday season. Now, they just might be the perfect tool for a scam. Evan Lutz is a Cybersecurity expert and owns BowTied Cyber LLC.

“AirPods being a couple of hundred dollars, they are right in the ‘Goldie Locks’ zone,” said Lutz. “If you tried to do that with a brand-new iPhone 15, the store is going to look at it pretty closely to make sure you’re not pulling a fast one on them.” 

Investigators say the two suspects go to Targets all over Florida, buying AirPods with gift cards, which are untraceable because they do not have any names or addresses on them. Then, the scammers swamp out the AirPods with a cheap knockoff and return them in their original packaging. 

“So you’re making money twice because not only do you have these individual AirPods that you then go sell to somebody on the street for almost full retail value, but now you get a full refund on the item that you had just purchased,” said Lutz.

Surveillance video from the Target on San Carlos Boulevard in Iona captured the two alleged scammers. If you recognize them, give CrimeStoppers a call at 1-800-780-TIPS. Your anonymous clues could get you a cash reward.

Lutz believes the only way Target can prevent future incidents like this is to change its return policy.

“Either returns are going to take a lot longer because you’re going to have to open up the box each individual time to verify everything is there, or you’re going to have to start collecting identification in order to accept returns,” said Lutz.

We reached out to Target to see if they will be changing any of its return policies in light of these crimes. They have not responded.