35-year-old Kylie Milner on Monday was sentenced by Ipswich Magistrates Court after she pleaded guilty to stealing groceries worth $4500 at Coles and Woolworths in Queensland.
Milner photocopied barcodes of cheap fried noodles which cost merely 65c and 72c, printed them and glued them to adhesive labels and then at supermarkets, stuck them over the barcodes of items like meat, coffee machines, protein powder, news.com.au reported.
She used self-checkouts at Coles and Woolworths at Springfield, Booval, Collingwood Park, Brookwater and Goodna, 31 times before the store managers noticed her.
Police found glue sticks and copies of the fraudulent barcodes on her computer along with grocery items with the fake barcodes attached during a search operation of her home.
She pleaded guilty to 31 counts of fraud, 3 counts of attempted fraud and one count of possessing a drug related utensil.
On Monday, the court heard Milner was "struggling financially" and bankrupt.
Defence lawyer Matthew Fairclough said Milner was motivated "largely by need rather than greed".
She was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment suspended for three years.
The court ordered Milner to repay $1545 to Coles and $2070 to Woolworths and fined her $150.
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