A player orders an RTX 4070 Ti for just 11 euros because he wants to know if he actually receives anything. In the end, the disappointment is great.
What did the player do? A player reported on Reddit that he discovered an amazing deal at the seller Walmart: An RTX 4070 Ti for only 13 US dollars (about 11 euros). Many people from the community warn him about the offer, as the seller is a third party from China. And the user himself seems not to trust the offer very much. He explains in another post: “If I actually receive one, I will buy many lottery tickets.”
What did he ultimately receive? In fact, he received nothing. Because Walmart, the platform through which he ordered, canceled the purchase agreement and refunded his 13 US dollars.
As he writes in a later post on Reddit: “Walmart just issued a refund. The order was never executed.” Another user seems to have made the same order, as he also posts a picture of the refund by Walmart.
Brazen scammers use real shops for fake offers
What is behind this? The offer does not come from Walmart directly, but from a third party that uses Walmart only as a platform. A procedure that is not unusual at first: Platforms like Amazon, Otto, and now also MediaMarkt-Saturn offer third parties the option to sell their own products through their shop.
However, there is a catch: Many scammers exploit the rather lax controls of Amazon and other platforms, to mix fake offers with real ones. The scammers often entice buyers to other platforms. Those who order here not only lose their money but often also do not receive any goods. Sometimes goods are shipped, but then they are counterfeits or the wrong items.
Can you protect yourself against this? Yes, by thoroughly checking offers before actually ordering them. Often, just a look at the seller’s imprint is enough to find out how real the offer is. But even that cannot protect you 100%: In some cases, scammers hijack official pages that have not been used for a long time.
Even directly at Amazon, a lot can go wrong: You might receive the wrong product or another buyer has swapped the goods in the box for something else. Such actions, where people receive incorrect graphics cards from Amazon, happen repeatedly and can never be completely prevented.
On Amazon, you will often find offers for graphics cards and other expensive hardware that are too cheap. A player has now taken the liberty of visiting the address of a possible scammer. And had little surprise to find that no company has its location there: Player covertly visits the company selling graphics cards on Amazon at too low prices – He really wants to know what he finds there
