Massive Scam?

[johnwoitalla]

I just got an ad on Facebook for a giant closeout sale at Leupold. When I clicked on the link it, it took me to what seems like Leupold's home site, but everything is being sold at 79% off. That is just too good to be true. I wonder how many poor sods are falling for this? I saw something similar a couple of months ago with stereo speakers that range from $1500 to over $80k, all at outlandishly low prices that not even could be found from shopping in the trash bins of that company.

 

[Ratzy]

I just got an ad on Facebook for a giant closeout sale at Leupold. When I clicked on the link it, it took me to what seems like Leupold's home site, but everything is being sold at 79% off. That is just too good to be true. I wonder how many poor sods are falling for this? I saw something similar a couple of months ago with stereo speakers that range from $1500 to over $80k, all at outlandishly low prices that not even could be found from shopping in the trash bins of that company.

I bought an couple generic chinese 6-24x60 scopes and couple years ago. 60mm FOV for $45, woohoo.

They arrived and are marked Leupold Mark 4. I laughed when I saw that. Sure Leopold for $45...

 

[RM.510bigbore]

I just got an ad on Facebook for a giant closeout sale at Leupold. When I clicked on the link it, it took me to what seems like Leupold's home site, but everything is being sold at 79% off. That is just too good to be true. I wonder how many poor sods are falling for this? I saw something similar a couple of months ago with stereo speakers that range from $1500 to over $80k, all at outlandishly low prices that not even could be found from shopping in the trash bins of that company.

last year i went on home depot site for black friday deals...I clicked at top of ther page and it was a counterfit home depot page,,almost the same ,,super deals,,it was a scam...THe websites redirect you and look 98percent the same...On Pa DMV page had same thing happen...Ahh tech and scams....

 

[JEFFPPC]

If it's too good to be true.....IT IS! The scammers pay on our greed which is in all of us. But, We also have brains and in some brains common sense.

 

[MongooseV8]

Probably shouldnt be clicking random links you see on facebook...

 

[Gos]

I'm mean to Ebay Counterfeiters. Over the years, I've ordered several VXIII or Mark 4 scopes on Ebay knowing they had to be fake. First clue, too cheap. Second clue, shipping out of China not Oregon. Once in hand I call up Leupold and check out the scope's serial number. When it comes back as not one of theirs, I request a text or Email. Once that's in hand, I fill out a PayPal request saying the advertised product was not delivered and is a counterfeit attaching my email from Leupold as proof. Ebay could care less, but PayPal shuts them down and refunds my money. I then crush it in a hydraulic press and attach that video to my seller's feedback. It took a while but I really put a dent in the counterfeit operations on Ebay's counterfeit Leupold Scopes.

 

[johnwoitalla]

Probably shouldnt be clicking random links you see on facebook...

When it seems to be a Leupold ad, it's not random. And I think by random, you are mistaken, they are not random at all, the algorithm deliberately sends them my way...totally the opposite of random.

 

[johnwoitalla]

I'm mean to Ebay Counterfeiters. Over the years, I've ordered several VXIII or Mark 4 scopes on Ebay knowing they had to be fake. First clue, too cheap. Second clue, shipping out of China not Oregon. Once in hand I call up Leupold and check out the scope's serial number. When it comes back as not one of theirs, I request a text or Email. Once that's in hand, I fill out a PayPal request saying the advertised product was not delivered and is a counterfeit attaching my email from Leupol as proof. Ebay could care less, but PayPal shuts them down and refunds my money. I then crush it in a hydraulic press and attach that video to my seller's feedback. It took a while but I really put a dent in the counterfeit operations on Ebay's counterfeit Leupold Scopes.

Good on you! But if it was not delivered, how can you claim it to be counterfeit?

 

[DARKHORSE1967]

Good on you! But if it was not delivered, how can you claim it to be counterfeit?

Read the fine line: He said, “advertised product was not delivered and is a counterfeit”, which means he was given a fake.

 

[Racer88]

What was the url of the fake website?

If you google "Leupold,' you'll get the real site in the results, usually at the very top.

Typically, the url for fake sites will have the brand name in it AND additional words such as "BuyLeupoldScopes.com." Or "LeupoldScopeStore.com." And similar. Other clues include no physical address... or a "generic" address like "1234 Main St." Same with phone numbers.

Be smart. As has been said.... too good to be true. And do a TINY bit of homework (like a Google search).

 

[Gos]

What was the url of the fake website?

If you google "Leupold,' you'll get the real site in the results, usually at the very top.

View attachment 574763

Typically, the url for fake sites will have the brand name in it AND additional words such as "BuyLeupoldScopes.com." Or "LeupoldScopeStore.com." And similar. Other clues include no physical address... or a "generic" address like "1234 Main St." Same with phone numbers.

Be smart. As has been said.... too good to be true. And do a TINY bit of homework (like a Google search).

Read the whole post. These were counterfeit leupold on Ebay.

 

[Gos]

Good on you! But if it was not delivered, how can you claim it to be

Good on you! But if it was not delivered, how can you claim it to be counterfeit?

It was delivered "Once in hand I call up Leupold and check out the scope's serial number."

 

[Racer88]

I just got an ad on Facebook for a giant closeout sale at Leupold. When I clicked on the link it, it took me to what seems like Leupold's home site

Read the whole post. These were counterfeit leupold on Ebay.

I did read the post. See above quoted from the OP. Nothing about eBay.

 

[MongooseV8]

When it seems to be a Leupold ad, it's not random. And I think by random, you are mistaken, they are not random at all, the algorithm deliberately sends them my way...totally the opposite of random.

Ok lemme rephrase, probably not a good idea to click on ANY links on facebook lol. One of these days you will click on something that looks just like an algorithm link and it will be malware or a scammer etc. I see them almost everyday, but maybe my internet history has really trashed my algorithm hahah

But I must ask, if you didnt think this was a random suspicious link why didnt you buy some Leupolds at 79% off? And in this context "random" is closer to "unkown" in internet lingo.

 

[Gos]

I did read the post. See above quoted from the OP. Nothing about eBay.

Now I'm not the one reading it all! My mistake. Thought you had responded to my post about counterfeit leupold scopes. My apologizes.

 

[Racer88]

Now I'm not the one reading it all! My mistake. Thought you had responded to my post about counterfeit leupold scopes. My apologizes.

No worries. But yes... on sources like eBay, you do need to be concerned about counterfeits (of anything). I like Casio watches, because they're fun and relatively inexpensive. Some are quite cheap. But even those are commonly counterfeited. Anything popular is likely being counterfeited.

A friend gave me what he thought was a very nice gift. It was a MicroTech "Scarab" automatic (OTF) knife. It happened to have the receipt in the original box. It was faded as he had bought the knife some years before. But it was "new in box." He had the same knife himself. I think he forgot the receipt was in there. The cost was about $200. I think he thought he was getting a good deal and bought more than one back then. For $200... about half price, but still not a small amount for a knife.

Well, of course, an OTF (out the front) "switchblade" is like a "fidget toy." I was very excited to get the knife and played with it the day I got it, flicking the blade in and out. And within a few minutes.... broken.

I did a little research and suspected it might be counterfeit. I sent it to MicroTech for repairs (if it's authentic). They won't repair it if it's a fake. They confirmed it was a fake. Oh well! I never told my friend. But I did end up buying the real thing for myself.... for $400... from an authorized dealer. Though I got a Troodon model, since the Scarab has been discontinued. I carry my Troodon every day. I've deployed the blade on my genuine MicroTech thousands of times... and still going strong.

 

[johnwoitalla]

Ok lemme rephrase, probably not a good idea to click on ANY links on facebook lol. One of these days you will click on something that looks just like an algorithm link and it will be malware or a scammer etc. I see them almost everyday, but maybe my internet history has really trashed my algorithm hahah

But I must ask, if you didnt think this was a random suspicious link why didnt you buy some Leupolds at 79% off? And in this context "random" is closer to "unkown" in internet lingo.

Being the pattern seeking human that I instinctually am, my b*llsh*t detector went off as soon as I saw that every single scope on the linked page was 79% off. Leupold controls the price a legal dealer can sell a new scope of theirs, and I have never seen legitimate Leupold dealers have 79% discount on brand new, never used products. Secondly, if in fact Leupold was having an across the board mark down of 79% on all of their products, the news would undoubtedly be on every shooting site, and every retailer of their product, and would be common knowledge by virtually every consumer of their products around the world... and virtually all of their products would sell out in less than a day. Additionally, I have seen videos of Leupold knock offs that people have been scammed into buying, so I am aware that there are lots of Leupold forgeries floating around in the market place. It was a no-brainer. It was an obvious scam from the git-go. They were "white van" Leupolds for sale.
Here is my working understanding of the term "random,"- made, done, happening, or chosen without method or conscious decision. The meaning of this term has been changing over time, and I, being of the Boomer ilk, resist its misuse with respect to the formal meaning of the term(as in the process of being accepted as meaning something new in the English language) as often as possible because older generations tend to resist linguistic changes to the tongue that they natively are born into. In most cases the term random really means an arbitrary choice made by a person, or it is some young person using it because they were surprised by another person's arbitrary decision to say or to behave in a manner that causes an emotional response of some sort, so they use the term "random" when they should be be saying "arbitrary."

 

[johnwoitalla]

No worries. But yes... on sources like eBay, you do need to be concerned about counterfeits (of anything). I like Casio watches, because they're fun and relatively inexpensive. Some are quite cheap. But even those are commonly counterfeited. Anything popular is likely being counterfeited.

A friend gave me what he thought was a very nice gift. It was a MicroTech "Scarab" automatic (OTF) knife. It happened to have the receipt in the original box. It was faded as he had bought the knife some years before. But it was "new in box." He had the same knife himself. I think he forgot the receipt was in there. The cost was about $200. I think he thought he was getting a good deal and bought more than one back then. For $200... about half price, but still not a small amount for a knife.

Well, of course, an OTF (out the front) "switchblade" is like a "fidget toy." I was very excited to get the knife and played with it the day I got it, flicking the blade in and out. And within a few minutes.... broken.

I did a little research and suspected it might be counterfeit. I sent it to MicroTech for repairs (if it's authentic). They won't repair it if it's a fake. They confirmed it was a fake. Oh well! I never told my friend. But I did end up buying the real thing for myself.... for $400... from an authorized dealer. Though I got a Troodon model, since the Scarab has been discontinued. I carry my Troodon every day. I've deployed the blade on my genuine MicroTech thousands of times... and still going strong.

View attachment 574861

One more instance of "you get what you pay for," being a truism. I have yet to meet a person into guns that isn't equally into knives. I too have a collection of MCUSTA's, Bench Made, GSakai, Enzo, etc knives. I also have about eleventeen knife sharpening doodads that are great paper weights.

 

[357cal]

I just got an ad on Facebook for a giant closeout sale at Leupold. When I clicked on the link it, it took me to what seems like Leupold's home site, but everything is being sold at 79% off. That is just too good to be true. I wonder how many poor sods are falling for this? I saw something similar a couple of months ago with stereo speakers that range from $1500 to over $80k, all at outlandishly low prices that not even could be found from shopping in the trash bins of that company.

If it's too good to be true 99.9% it's a scam.

 

[Racer88]

One more instance of "you get what you pay for," being a truism. I have yet to meet a person into guns that isn't equally into knives. I too have a collection of MCUSTA's, Bench Made, GSakai, Enzo, etc knives. I also have about eleventeen knife sharpening doodads that are great paper weights.

Is there a knife thread? If not, we should start one. I have a bit of a Spyderco collection.

I just looked... there are no "off-topic" sections in the forum? Pity. As you said... gun people are often knife people... also watch people... flashlight people... basically we like all kinds of things. It's fun to discuss our other common interests (and increases forum participation).