How a ‘sad compulsion’ to have expensive handbags landed woman in prison

Praepitcha Smatsorabudh’s business was illegal but brilliant.

She would buy designer handbags from department stores, then return fake versions she had specially made in China and Hong Kong. Most of the real bags she would sell on Instagram and eBay.

But prosecutors say she also kept dozens or perhaps hundreds of high-end bags for herself. She did it all, according to court documents, “because of her compulsion to have expensive handbags.”

Smatsorabudh, of Arlington County, was arrested in June and sentenced Wednesday to 33 months in prison by a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia.

“I think what you did was ingenious,” Judge Bruce Lee told her. “It’s just stealing, but the Internet has given us so many more ways to steal... I thought I’d seen everything.”

To avoid detection, Smatsorabudh went to more than 60 T.J. Maxx stores in 12 states, using 16 different credit cards. At one point, she was the company’s biggest online customer in the world. T.J. Maxx was able to identify at least 226 fake handbags Smatsorabudh returned. Neiman Marcus found 10 more.