How would you feel after coming home with a new, expensive, iPad 2; eagerly taking it out of the box, and finding that you have a clay tablet instead of a computer tablet?
Some shoppers in Vancouver, British Columbia, have experienced just that.
Walmart, Best Buy, London Drugs and Future Shop have all reported that fake iPad 2’s are showing up on their store shelves in Vancouver. Rather than an Apple iPad 2, shoppers are getting home to find their iPad 2 box contains nothing but modeling clay.
It’s suspected that real tablets, which range from about $500 to $830, are being purchased with cash. They are then being unwrapped, the real tablet replaced with clay of approximately the same weight, and then rewrapped in such a way they appear unopened. Then they are returned to the store for a refund. The criminal walks away with the cash, and keeps the iPad 2.
It’s a scene straight out of “Hotel For Dogs”, in which young Bruce (played by Jake T. Austin) puts a rock in a cell phone box, rewraps it like new, and heads to a pawn shop (yeh, he gets caught, but it turns out well in the end).
Best Buy and Future Shop say they have had at least 10 fakes show up. London Drugs has reported 4 incidents so far. Walmart has not disclosed any numbers.
“It’s really sad that people stoop to these low levels to take advantage of really hot sellers. As you probably know, tablets were the number one touted gift items for the holidays this year,” Future Shop spokesperson Elliott Chun told CTV British Columbia, who was the first to report on the story.
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