Ashley McDowell Burned in Wooden iPad Scam

Ashley McDowell Learns that You Shouldn't Buy iPads at McDonalds

22-year-old Ashley McDowell was leaving a McDonald's in Spartanburg, South Carolina when she was approached by two men holding a cardboard box. They told McDowell that they were selling iPads for $300, having shown her an ostensibly functioning iPad. The men said that they had bought iPads and laptops in bulk, and were selling them at a discount. This was somehow not taken as an immediate warning sign.

McDowell said that she only had $180, and the men agreed to sell her an iPad for that price. This was, for some reason, not also taken as an immediate warning sign.

Ashley McDowell gave the men the cash, and they gave her a cardboard FedEx box. When she got home and opened the box, McDowell found that it contained a piece of wood painted to look vaguely like an iPad. The crooks painted an Apple logo on the wood, as well as some default apps.

Aside from the stupidity of buying electronics from strangers in a fast-food chain parking lot, let's ask about these crooks. Why would you bother painting the device? Surely once the box is opened, the fraud is revealed for what it is. Wood looks like wood. It does not look like an iPad. 

Ashley McDowell contacted the police. The Smoking Gun has the Sheriff's Office report on the iPad scam. You can see the wooden iPad below: it's made from what looks like reused wood and even includes a fake Best Buy label. This is what they call "upcycling".

The con, by the way, is called the brick scam. The scam hinges upon the mark's desire to get something fast and cheap. Nobody will sell you legit electronics in a parking lot. That should be commonly understood, but obviously it isn't.

The Real Hustle explored the brick scam in greater detail, focusing on a Christmas-gift version, which replaced already-purchased items with dummies.

Photos

Wooden iPad: Not Covered by AppleCare

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