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Pastimes : Let's Talk About the Wars (moderated)
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From: Ilaine8/14/2006 6:38:36 PM
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>>Could The Three Men Profit From The Cell Phone Scheme?

Aug 14, 2006 05:01 PM

(TV5) -- The FBI says currently they have no reason to believe the three men who sit in the Tuscola County Jail, have direct links to terrorism. The charges they still face, as of now, come after the men tried to buy 80 cell phones at a Wal-Mart in Caro. Police later then found close to a thousand phones in their van.

The men claimed they were going to re-sell the phones for a profit at stores in Texas. But is that possible, given the price of gas, and the amount of travel between the two states? We broke out the calculator and did some digging.

When this story first broke most of us probably thought the practicing of buying a thousand disposable cell phones was unusual. But it turns out it may not be that unusual after all.

From northern Wisconsin, to Escanaba to right here in Caro the three men from Dallas, Texas traveled a long way from home to buy up cell phones. Why would they do it? The wife of one of the men said the reason is simple to make money "There goal in Michigan was to buy as many phones as they could so they could make a profit over here," said Linda Odeh.

So could these men actually profit off of these disposable cell phones sold at stores like Wal-Mart? Let's break it down for you. Estimating the men paid $650 for a two week mini-van rental they would pay about $415 in gasoline with gas being estimated at three dollars a gallon we also figured in an extra $500 for food and lodging. Add that all up and the cost is just over fifteen hundred dollars.

So how would the men make money on these phones? They would buy the phones for around $21.20 a piece and then would resell them to a Texas wholesaler for $27.00. That's a $5.80 profit. All of this confirmed through the Dallas wholesaler that deals with these men.

So would the cross country trip these men made actually be worth it? With one thousand phones they would make a $5800 profit minus estimated expenses of $1565 and yes they would come away with a profit of $4235. Experts in the cell phone industry this practice is common for people of Middle Eastern decent.

Linda Odeh says the Tuscola County prosecutor made one big mistake, "If you want to believe something you have to back it up with evidence."

Odeh says she has handed the receipts from the wholesaler over to authorities. She hopes her husband will soon be allowed to come back home.
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