thewayne: (Default)
Oooh, this was a sneaky one! The investigated period, from August '19 to the middle of December '21, they looked at people buying systems at the Australian Dell web site. People would see a monitor with a high price that was struck through and a lower price displayed. What people didn't know was that the lower price was in many cases actually higher than the price that they would pay if they'd bought the monitor on its own!

During the time in question, "...shoppers spent over $2 million Australian dollars ($1.33 million USD) on 5,300 add-on monitors..."

LUCY! YOU HAVE SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO! IN THE COURT ROOM!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/dell-in-hot-water-for-making-shoppers-think-overpriced-monitors-were-discounted/
thewayne: (Default)
Or buy it from AliExpress for $120.

The maker claims it has a "special secure operating system" that won't report back your personal info to 'the mothership'. Except the phone runs Parlour, Signal, Facebook: all the standard Android apps, making it extremely unlikely it's a custom OS.

Meaning it's a cheap CHINESE phone that people are paying a 3x+ markup for.

But it's FREEDUMB!

The guy who released it is a 22 y/o self-proclaimed Bitcoin millionaire who says the app store is "uncensorable", which means it will be rife with malware and apps guaranteed to steal your personal information. The Wild West! YEEHAW! FREEDUMB! And for only $500!

https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-phones/134539/freedom-phone-meant-for-trump-supporters-is-also-made-by-chinese-vendor


The description in this Slashdot post header by various articles from The Daily Beast and Gizmodo just highlight the scam aspect.

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/21/07/17/011226/right-wing-activists-500-freedom-phone-actually-cheap-rebranded-android-model-made-in-china
thewayne: (Default)
I've heard about these deliveries, and hadn't heard an explanation until I came across this new article via the BBC and Slashdot.

It's quite simple. The cost of a packet of seeds is crazy low. I buy names from a hacked database or get them from other online sources, create accounts for them in an online store like Amazon, and mail the product to those people. Then I post reviews from those people that I write. Instant algorithmic high!

Low cost, high return. And yet still very scummy.

As the article points out, if you receive an unsolicited product in the mail, it's yours to keep. But if it's mis-delivered, it has to be returned.

Still, I wouldn't plant seeds that arrived anonymously.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54055669

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