Artur K. faces a court in Bochum this week, after he was accused of defrauding the German Deposit Society (DPG) out of of €1.2 million.
The 27-year-old shop manager is said to have illegally manipulated two bottle deposit machines in his shop.
Deposit machines allow customers to return empty bottles and cans, and claim back a small amount of money from their purchase. When a bottle is inserted, the machine crushes and records the item.
The vendors are then able to claim back money from providers, based on the the data stored in the machine.
Artur K. is accused of manipulating the machines into not crushing the bottles, allowing him to retrieve and insert the same bottle multiple times, Der Westen reported.
This allowed him to claim significantly higher sums than he would otherwise have been able to from the DPG.
If he is found guilty, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
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