Beautiful grifter

Fortune did a good piece on a diverter scam. Diverter scams involve someone getting merchandise to distribute in one channel and then shifting it to another, more lucrative one. This alleged grifter, Dina Wein Reis, used a sophisticated high-end effort to sting executives at big name consumer goods firms. In her best years, she apparently diverted as much as $35 million in goods.

She seems to have used her good looks (image search), apparent charm and the introduction of ethical conflicts to identify her marks. I was surprised she didn’t come up in recent reporting I did on organized retail crime. But she doesn’t seem to have operated a ring; diversion isn’t necessarily illegal, and at least some of the operation she had worked with legitimate firms.