True story, I found this set at a Target in 2013 or so clearanced to something like $15 US. Still have it.

@StyleCounselor:
Yesterday: Nope, this guy:

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10200275

I actually remember reading about a woman who was putting barcodes for frying pans on LEGO sets, and I think one other individual who was using a barcode scam, but Swanberg was the first we ever heard of, 18 years ago. So, like I said, he may be out of jail by now. Maybe not, given the six-figure value he was initially charged with.

@MCLegoboy said:
"There's no way that this set was just called Hogwarts, that's insane."

That's what it says on the box! As to why? WHo knows.

Yes, that is what the box says it is called. P.S. I still have this set in the box, I'm
still too lazy to open it.

I'm so glad minifig wands aren't that bulky anymore. I, for one, am thankful for the new wand elements.

@Ratical30 same. Especially the previous run despite all its gappy inaccurate flaws.

Ah, this set. This year it's finally expended upon, but this used to be one of roughly 2 Deathly Hallows sets. The Halfblood Prince barely even received any tie-in sets besides The Burrow. At the time the sets were multipurpose and contained elements of many films, such as the Vanishing Cabinet in tthe 2010 Hogwarts and 2011 Diagon Alley.

Fun fact: this version has a mirror of erised, 10 years since the last one. As the next one appeared in 2018, that means there's more time between this set and HP having started than the (HP III) revival.

HP I (2001-2007)
HP II (2010-2011)
HP III (2018-2023+)
(This is how I would categorize the eras)l

[Disclaimer: The content of product is not the entire castle.]

What remained of Hogwarts while the rest of it was under maintenance, fortunately they have some ship containers they can use as temporary buildings that will end up being used for 20 years.

I wanted this set for a bit because of the play features (which the new one outdoes but I’m not getting that one, either) but out of the Harry Potter sets I don’t own, I can get the closest to making this one with the pieces I have. Well, bar The Rise of Voldemort, Harry and Marauder’s Map, Grindelwald Escape, The Forbidden Forest (from the same wave), and a few polybags, but I doubt I’d ever make those with the parts I have.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.

'Being a wizard, I'm very disappointed in this set.

Odd choice of minifigs. You’d have thought they’d at least have tried to get Seamus in there given he’s the one who actually blew up the bridge in the scene they’re trying to replicate here

I am looking at my sealed copy of this set right now, indeed the US release is simply "Hogwarts", but on the left side box flap it is "Poudlard Hogwarts".

I feel like this set was designed before they had full costume references for Deathly Hallows pt 2. Harry's school uniform is, of course, from almost every movie but that one; Remus' suit is from HBP; and Lucius' outfit is from OotP: and all of them wore different outfits in the battle taking place here.

In Harry's case I guess it's somewhat understandable, if they were running low on printing slots, to give him the same torso he and other characters wear in several other sets; same with Lucius, whose design had first appeared in 4736 the previous year. Remus' is a unique print, though, so if they'd had full references I would have expected it to be based more closely on the relevant movie.

That said, I do particularly like this minifigure of him. It just isn't the right outfit for the scene in question.

@Rimefang said:
"I am looking at my sealed copy of this set right now, indeed the US release is simply "Hogwarts", but on the left side box flap it is "Poudlard Hogwarts"."

That is because they put the set name in other languages (Poudlard is the French name for Hogwarts).

This just being called "Hogwarts" reminds me of how, when the new Hogwarts sets 75953 and 75954 started coming out in 2018, my dad said "you don't need these, you already have Hogwerts" because I have 4757 from 2004. If you have one set you have the whole castle!

@CCC said:
" @Rimefang said:
"I am looking at my sealed copy of this set right now, indeed the US release is simply "Hogwarts", but on the left side box flap it is "Poudlard Hogwarts"."

That is because they put the set name in other languages (Poudlard is the French name for Hogwarts)."

True indeed. I'm more surprised that it isn't a tri-language label. It's more common in the US to have English, French, and Spanish on packages.

Looks legit. Any addition would be gluttony.

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor:
Yesterday: Nope, this guy:

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10200275

I actually remember reading about a woman who was putting barcodes for frying pans on LEGO sets, and I think one other individual who was using a barcode scam, but Swanberg was the first we ever heard of, 18 years ago. So, like I said, he may be out of jail by now. Maybe not, given the six-figure value he was initially charged with."

Couldn't easily find anything about the outcome of his case. Given that they went after him for federal mail and wire fraud, he's looking at big-time prosecutors with a real legal education and experience who have an extreme dislike of losing (unlike a Silicon Valley Asst. DA).

On the other hand, he's a petty criminal without violence or personal victims. Since there's nothing about a trial or sentence, it's very likely that he took a plea bargain. So, it's highly unlikely he served more than a few years. His restitution bill might be quite high.

Then again, it wouldn't be easy (or something a fed prosecutor would want to spend a lot of resources on) to connect a significant amount of the sold Lego to losses from the stores. It would take a LOT of leg work. That's resources they reserve for cases like narcotics, money laundering, and large financial crimes.

Can we just get that canceled malfoy manor?

@Rimefang said:
" @CCC said:
" @Rimefang said:
"I am looking at my sealed copy of this set right now, indeed the US release is simply "Hogwarts", but on the left side box flap it is "Poudlard Hogwarts"."

That is because they put the set name in other languages (Poudlard is the French name for Hogwarts)."

True indeed. I'm more surprised that it isn't a tri-language label. It's more common in the US to have English, French, and Spanish on packages."

That probably is a tri-language label: English on the front, French and Spanish on the side: Hogwarts not being translated for Spanish.
My 75288 box has AT-AT on the front; on the top:
TB-TT
AT-AT

Sorry, HP doesn't do it for me.

This set had great minifigs! Lupin doesn't look like movie Lupin, but that face has a LOT of character! Goyle is great, and just having a second Slytherin torso back then was a big deal. Mr. Malfoy and the dementor are, of course, army builders, while Sprout was very detailed and as good as you could get without specialised hats for every teacher like they're doing nowadays. Also, it should be noted that Professor Sprout is fairly prominent during the battle in the book, but I think the reason they chose her and Lupin for the set was to have included all four heads of house in the line, as well as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Neville's face is weird, and neither side is a good fit for him, but his outfit is way more accurate than this and last year's. The lower floors are nothing to write home about, but Lupin's office and the balcony with the large globe are very good.

@StyleCounselor:
If he was parting out all the sets, he may have left the barcode stickers in place. In that case, just have all these stores submit a list of LEGO sets they wildly oversold (and compare them to the fake barcodes) vs sets they lost large quantities of (and compare them to the sets recovered). You’ve got him with a cartload, and you’ve got $200,000 worth of sets recovered from his home, plus whatever video surveillance you can recover from previous purchases, and card transactions.

It is strange, however, that this fell under the USPS’ jurisdiction, and that there doesn’t seem to be any information past being indicted by a grand jury.

I still have this one, along with 4842 assembled on my shelf! It doesn't make a lot of sense as a standalone set, but when you combine it with the larger set I think they make for a great play experience!

@Lego_lord said:
"Sorry, HP doesn't do it for me. "

Thanks for your input.

@fourstud said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"There's no way that this set was just called Hogwarts, that's insane."

It wasn't during pre-production!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fbtbnet/5444471414"

I miss these days when we'd get peeks at stuff during Toy Fairs. I fondly remember this particular set on Flickr as a 14 year old and being SUPER pumped about it!

@jjr_2009 said:
"I still have this one, along with 4842 assembled on my shelf! It doesn't make a lot of sense as a standalone set, but when you combine it with the larger set I think they make for a great play experience! "

The strange thing about what I call Harry Potter II (the 2010-2011 sets) is that it had a very peculiar set range. Peculiar in that there were almost no modular Hogwarts sets. In 2010 you got the large castle. If you squint you could consider the Freeing Dobby set as a section, although I don't think it was designed as such. And then there was this one. On the set page it even notes the set as 'related' to 4842. In a sense this was the only other modular for the castle.
The rest of the range were all individual scenes of locations or vehicles. This is in sharp contrast with Harry Potter I (2001-2007) where a lot of the sets were modular sections of a Hogwarts. And the newest iteration, which seems to be more of a mixture of both.
The secon iteration is unique in how complete its Hogwarts was on its own as a full representation of the entire castle!

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor :
If he was parting out all the sets, he may have left the barcode stickers in place. In that case, just have all these stores submit a list of LEGO sets they wildly oversold (and compare them to the fake barcodes) vs sets they lost large quantities of (and compare them to the sets recovered). You’ve got him with a cartload, and you’ve got $200,000 worth of sets recovered from his home, plus whatever video surveillance you can recover from previous purchases, and card transactions.

It is strange, however, that this fell under the USPS’ jurisdiction, and that there doesn’t seem to be any information past being indicted by a grand jury."

Any crime which utilizes any part of the mail or wire system (which includes the web) is enough to attach federal jurisdiction if the Feds really want to get involved.

That's a BIG "if." You'd be a pretty stupid criminal to use fake barcodes and then leave them on when selling to BL customers. The prosecution would still have to track those sets from the stores to BL customers and get the customers' cooperation or have warrants issued for each sale.

The Feds undoubtedly took the easy route and only considered what he had on hand. Even those sets would have to be individually tracked back to stores unless perhaps if the fake barcodes were still attached.

The articles I read only seemed to indicate that only one store noticed unusual activity and even that probably had much more generalized tracking information than you would think. Thus, the amount he copped to is undoubtedly far, far less than the amounts provided in the articles.

He was undoubtedly in jail briefly, if at all. It's not as if he was trafficking a highly-addictive drug (or was he?! ;) ).

One reason it's difficult to catch repeated thefts is because stores don't bother to keep or retain specific information. Some high-end retailers, like Armani, attach chips that they can use to track a product from end to end. Yet, even those are only attached with a string.

The rules of evidence are much more strict than laymen understand. Press releases (and indictments) are always more sensational than what actually is allowed as evidence in court. An outlier to this is the recent 37-counter in Miami which provides very, very specific evidence to support. This was done on purpose, of course, given the situation.

I don't have strong feelings about Harry Potter LEGO. It's never really done it for me, but I had some of the first sets in my late childhood, and I've acquired enough parts and figs (and my wife has actual sets) from the later waves that I find I have Opinions­™ about them--enough to say that I think I like the middle wave better than the modern stuff. I know I have shards of this Hogwarts, but if were to have tried assembling it from the pieces I got, it'd look even more ruinous than it does at the end of the final movie's battle.

@Binnekamp said:
" @Ratical30 same. Especially the previous run despite all its gappy inaccurate flaws....

HP I (2001-2007)
HP II (2010-2011)
HP III (2018-2023+)
(This is how I would categorize the eras)l"

I have sets from all the eras dsplayed together (even the paper-roof era). It looks great, far better than you'd think.

After all, Hogwarts itself is purposefully kind of a hodge-podge of architectural styles.

This Lucius looks loads betters than the newer one in 75978. How does a $450 price tag and more modern detailing deliver such a worse figure? That generic face print and hair color... yikes.

@StyleCounselor:
I knew that sending it by mail constituted Mail fraud, but wire fraud falls to the Secret Service, although you can commit wire fraud in arranging to commit mail fraud (and apparently it only counts as mail fraud if it crosses a state border?!?!?). I was thinking more in terms of the theft of $200,000, which shouldn’t directly fall under USPS jurisdiction, unless the barcodes were shipped across state lines by any postal or parcel service (I didn’t realize mail fraud covered UPS/FedEx shipments, but apparently it does).

So, this could have involved the FBI (he was buying sets in three states, that I heard of, so transportation of stolen goods across state lines), Secret Service (he was arranging sales of stolen goods over the internet, so wire fraud), and USPS (he was shipping stolen goods by parcel across state lines).

@PurpleDave said:
" @StyleCounselor :
I knew that sending it by mail constituted Mail fraud, but wire fraud falls to the Secret Service, although you can commit wire fraud in arranging to commit mail fraud (and apparently it only counts as mail fraud if it crosses a state border?!?!?). I was thinking more in terms of the theft of $200,000, which shouldn’t directly fall under USPS jurisdiction, unless the barcodes were shipped across state lines by any postal or parcel service (I didn’t realize mail fraud covered UPS/FedEx shipments, but apparently it does).

So, this could have involved the FBI (he was buying sets in three states, that I heard of, so transportation of stolen goods across state lines), Secret Service (he was arranging sales of stolen goods over the internet, so wire fraud), and USPS (he was shipping stolen goods by parcel across state lines)."

My point is only that it is highly, highly, highly unlikely that he was convicted of theft for even close to the amount in the press release. This is especially true since there is scant record of the conviction. Thus, he likely didn't receive a harsh sentence.

Federal jurisdiction covers anything which has a connection to interstate or international commerce. This is a Constitutional requirement, but is easily fulfilled.

The agencies you mentioned are all investigators who fall under the aegis of the U.S. Attorneys as prosecutors. The only governmental department I'm aware of that has its own prosecutorial force is the Department of Defense (JAG Corps).

While the Secret Service nominally investigates wire fraud, they really only care about crimes which impact the financial industry. Likewise, the USPS really only investigates crimes which have a large impact on the mail. Thus, the investigation was likely handled by the FBI.

While they have incredible resources at their disposal, I don't see much to really motivate them in this case. It's just one sad nerd stealing and selling Lego. There's not a lot of motivation for them to expend the resources necessary to really nail him to the wall. It would require a LOT of investigation, evidentiarily speaking. They have much bigger fish to fry.

@StyleCounselor:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/hillsboro-ore-man-allegedly-stole-many-lego-blocks/

The article I previously linked to didn’t mention it, but here’s one that cites the US Postal Service investigative team being involved, so it kinda sounds like it was the fact that he was mailing the stolen goods, rather than the theft itself, that got federal attention. The arrest for the theft itself was carried out at the county level. That also seems weird, since you’d think it would have been pushed up to state level.