An executive at business applications vendor SAP division has been charged in the US with printing out his own barcodes and sticking them onto Lego sets in stores to buy them at a discount.

Thomas Langenbach, vice president for SAP’s Integration and Certification in Palo Alto, California, was arrested earlier this month, NBC Bay Area reports.

Lagenbach, a 24-year SAP veteran, was charged with the burglary of seven boxes of Lego, worth about $1,000, from retail chain Target. He is alleged to have sold 2,100 Lego items on eBay since last April, totalling $30,000.

Barcode fraud is not a uncommon crime. "This probably happens more than you think," a police spokesperson told NBC Bay Area.

In 2005, four people were charged with defrauding US retail giant WalMart of up to $1.5 million using a similar technique over the course of a decade.

In 2008, a man was convicted in the US of earning more than $1 million by using fake barcodes to buy merchandise and selling it online.