- Brandalene ‘Brandy’ Horn, 42, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly selling more than 1,000 designer items on Poshmark taken from rental companies
- Horn opened hundreds of accounts to rent women’s clothing and stole those rented items, before selling them, prosecutors said
- Horn was charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, and the interstate transportation of stolen property. She faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison
An online scammer is accused of stealing nearly $1 million worth of luxury clothing from sites such as Rent The Runway and selling them to unsuspecting customers.
Brandalene ‘Brandy’ Horn, 42, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly selling more than 1,000 designer items on resell sites that she obtained from rental companies.
Horn was charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and the interstate transportation of stolen property in connection with a scheme to defraud victim clothing rental companies.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.
Horn opened hundreds of accounts to rent women’s clothing and stole those rented items, before selling them to unassuming customers on sites like Poshmark, according to federal prosecutors.
‘As alleged, Brandalene Horn perpetrated a lucrative scheme in which she defrauded at least three victim companies, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury and designer items, and then sold those stolen items online,’ said Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Horn was arrested in Freeland, Michigan, where she lived. She was accused of stealing more than $823,000 worth of designer clothing from three rental companies as part of the elaborate fashion scheme.
Horn allegedly sold at least 1,063 items that she had stolen from the rental company, prosecutors said.
She sold them under the username ‘cashhorn’ on Poshmark between April 2022 and February 2024. The site was up and running as of Thursday.
Horn would remove the labels on the luxury items. The investigation found the tags of dresses she was selling contained residue on the label, indicating that Horn more than likely removed a heat-sensitive tag.
The items includes high-end brands such as Selkie, Bottega Veneta and LoveShackFancy, BHLDN and MadeWorn.
‘Horn now faces criminal federal charges for her alleged deceptive behavior and fraudulent activity,’ prosecutors said.
‘After receiving rental items, including pieces worth thousands of dollars, Horn kept, instead of returned, the items from the victim companies and sold them on an e-commerce marketplace,’ federal officials noted.
‘Horn’s listings for the stolen items on the e-commerce marketplace often used the victim companies’ proprietary photographs and item descriptions that substantially matched the descriptions used by the victim companies.’
When the companies would try to charge Horn for the stolen items, she would dispute the charges with her credit card or cancel her card entirely.
The unusual activity led her accounts to eventually get flagged and closed, but Horn would continue to reopen new accounts and acquire more luxury goods to sell, according to prosecutors.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant US Attorneys Connie L. Dang and Katherine Cheng are leading the prosecution.
Dailymail.com has reached out to Poshmark for comment.
