Scammers set their sights on luxury brands: Famous brands rush to court over 'return fraud'

Complaints recently submitted to police and prosecutors have brought to light a new fraud method targeting the electronics sector and mobile phone retailers. This method, called "unopened product return," has caused many victims, especially among famous brands. With the increase in complaints, retailers have taken the matter to judicial authorities.

According to the report by Metin Can from Sabah, scammers are causing great damage by deceiving stores during the return process. Scammers purchase mobile phones and expensive electronic devices from electronics retailers. They then carefully open the boxes of the products and take the original devices inside. The scammers, who place fake or different objects of similar weight inside, then repackage the box to give it the appearance of a "brand-new package."

This packaging process is usually done in makeshift workshops or with simple machines. Stores, deceived by the gelatin-wrapped and unopened appearance of the box, accept the return request.

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Many high-priced mobile phone brands, especially the new AI-powered iPhones and Samsungs that went on sale last week, are being targeted. In addition to mobile phones, scammers use a similar method for external hard drives, memory cards, Bluetooth headphones, iPads, laptops, cameras, lenses, game consoles, and some smart home devices.

Some statements in the prosecutor's files confirm that scammers carry out the return without raising any suspicion after repackaging the products and returning them to the store.

This fraud does not only affect individual customers; it is also alleged that some people working in electronics warehouses are causing grievances using similar methods.

Among the complaints, it is also noted that some individuals working in warehouses are making a huge haul by replacing original products entering the warehouse with fake products.

News Source: 12punto