Warrington Police. Photo by James Short.
A Philadelphia man is facing six charges after Warrington Township Police said he attempted to use a barcode scam to fraudulently purchase Apple gift cards and later admitted to learning the method through an online Telegram group.
Anderson Abel Warning-Paulino, 23, of the 3400 block of Wellington Street, was charged with felony criminal use of a communication facility, felony retail theft, felony receiving stolen property, misdemeanor access device fraud and two misdemeanor drug offenses following a Sept. 18, 2025 incident at the Walmart on Valley Gate Drive.
According to an affidavit, police were dispatched around 1:11 p.m. after loss prevention reported a man in a dark shirt and New York Yankees hat attempting to run a gift-card scam at the checkout.
Police located Warning-Paulino allegedly driving a black Toyota sedan in the parking lot and detained him. He immediately removed a $6.97 deodorant from his pocket and admitted he had not paid for it, police said. Loss prevention confirmed the theft.
Detectives also reviewed CCTV footage allegedly showing Warning-Paulino using his cellphone to scan a barcode intended to reduce the price of a $50 Apple gift card to $11.50, a transaction Walmart later told police would be impossible because the retailer does not discount gift cards. The purchase attempt was flagged as fraudulent, police said.
During the investigation, store personnel advised police that Warning-Paulino had allegedly completed similar fraudulent purchases at the Warminster Walmart the day before.
After being read his Miranda warnings, Warning-Paulino consented to a search of his vehicle. Inside, officers found 25 Apple $50 gift cards and 32 receipts from the Warminster location, each showing successful barcode-scanned gift-card purchases at $11.50 each, totaling $1,116.50 in unpaid merchandise, according to the affidavit.
Police also recovered a bag of suspected marijuana, which tested positive for THC, police said.
In a recorded interview, Warning-Paulino allegedly told investigators he learned the scheme through Instagram and joined a Telegram group where users shared discount barcodes for retail stores.
He said he communicated with a person identified only as “Johnny,” who explained how the gift-card barcode worked, according to the affidavit. Officers said Warning-Paulino allowed them to scroll through the Telegram group, where they observed the fraudulent barcode, a fake Maryland identification card he admitted possessing, photographs of various individuals, a screenshot of a bank account balance and multiple bank checks not belonging to Warning-Paulino or “Johnny.”
When asked why he used false identification, he replied, “I needed to buy something they did not let me buy” and “I needed to buy something I did not want in my name,” the affidavit stated.
Warning-Paulino was charged by summons. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 5 before Magisterial District Judge Stacy Wertman.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
