Former Water Department Mail Clerk Swindled More Than $500,000 Worth of Toner Cartridges

You often hear about embezzling and dirty-dealing among higher-ups at big companies. Now the little guys are getting into the game. Calvin Duncan, 61, a former mailroom clerk at the Philadelphia Water Department, pleaded guilty to his own million-dollar fraud scheme. Sure, there’s money in insurance fraud, straight up taking money, and falsifying your books, but all these high-profile white-collar criminals are missing one thing Calvin Duncan picked up on.

Toner cartridges. Duncan, who stocked and changed ink cartridges and copier toner for his employer, regularly purchased far more supplies than the water department needed and then turned around and sold the extras to a private company at lower than market rate. All went well for about six years, with Duncan netting upwards of $550,000, courtesy of Laser Cartridge Plus in Russellville, Ark. The whole ordeal has cost the city around $1.3 million. [CBS]