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Smartphone Reseller Cheated Customers Out of Millions, Feds Say (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes:The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued a Nevada-based company called Laptop & Desktop Repair LLC (LDR) for allegedly bilking thousands of customers out of millions of dollars in promised funds for the resale of their smartphones. LDR operated dozens of websites that promised customers high returns for their smartphones and tablets using an instant quote generator. The customers, believing that this website would pay the highest price for their used gadget, sent their phones to LDR. Once LDR received the gadget, it would offer the customer a "revised quote" that was often only three to ten percent of the original quoted price. Customers only had three to five days to dispute the revised quote, the FTC's complaint claimed. The FTC further alleged that when customers would call LDR to request their smartphones back, the company would put them on hold for extraordinarily long periods of time, the call would be dropped, and an LDR employee would say the phone had already been processed. If the customer persisted in threatening to report LDR's actions, company representatives would offer slightly higher resale prices.
"Deal locally, face-to-face"
https://www.craigslist.org/abo...
At least they did not paw with a fake cashiers check...
When an individual steals it's prosecuted as a crime. Stealing a candy bar can get the thief a year or more in jail. When someone forms a company and conspires to steal it's treated as a civil matter. The proprietors shouldn't be in court, they should be in prison.
I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
Sounds like the old "mail us your gold - we'll send you a check" scam.
They did pick a uniquely gullible demographic- People who spend hundreds of dollars on a new phone when they have a working smartphone. These people have proven through their actions that they are unable to make good financial decisions. Good business plan. Learning from the best- Jobs,Cook et al
**Life is too short to be serious**
I'm sure another scummy phone trade-in company will rise up in its place (they also do), so I propose customers send their phones in account-locked; iPhone = Find My Phone active, Android = Gmail account active. Even locked the company will still be able to evaluate the phone's physical condition along with seeing the LCD on and manipulating the touchscreen. Once you're given an agreeable quote and have been paid you can then remotely unlock the phone to complete the sale.
From TFA:
"The FTC said it has received more than 4,000 complaints from customers about LDR websites since 2011."
For organizations like the FTC and BBB, what exactly is the damn threshold for these kinds of regulatory agencies to stop sitting on their asses taking complaints and instead take action?
No wonder Wells Fargo was able to get away with their damn scam for years. Why even bother with anti-corruption policies in business when it's become the fucking status quo at the Federal level.
People should definitely know better, but stop blaming the victims. Just because I don't lock my front door, nobody has the right to walk in and steal my stuff.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
But the blame still falls on the perpetrator, not the victim. If assholes didn't exist, people wouldn't have to be so cynical. The fault in that lies with the assholes.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Weak people should be beaten because they're too weak to fight back, those with bad vision should die if they don't see a car coming, ... what utter bullshit.
The reason why there are laws is because unlike you, the society recognizes that everybody has strength and weaknesses and that weaknesses should not be a reason for being abused.
You seem to be smart enough to not fall into this trap, but you're an utter idiot when it comes to living with others. No one is perfect.
You seem like the kind of person that advocates for remembering 12 characters random passwords and think anyone who is not capable of that should deserve to be hacked. That gives you a feeling of superiority and must surely feel good, because it tends to rank human on a scale that favors you, and hides all of your weaknesses that others may not have.
I think the society should promote nice, helpful, friendly (though maybe naive) persons against those who take advantage of others weaknesses for their personal gain and ego (just like you).
To be fair... it looks like a couple of Russians (his parents) gave him a pretty bad name first..
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
Weak people should be beaten because they're too weak to fight back, those with bad vision should die if they don't see a car coming, ... what utter bullshit.
The reason why there are laws is because unlike you, the society recognizes that everybody has strength and weaknesses and that weaknesses should not be a reason for being abused.
You seem to be smart enough to not fall into this trap, but you're an utter idiot when it comes to living with others. No one is perfect.
You seem like the kind of person that advocates for remembering 12 characters random passwords and think anyone who is not capable of that should deserve to be hacked. That gives you a feeling of superiority and must surely feel good, because it tends to rank human on a scale that favors you, and hides all of your weaknesses that others may not have.
I think the society should promote nice, helpful, friendly (though maybe naive) persons against those who take advantage of others weaknesses for their personal gain and ego (just like you).
There have always been two teachers in life; wisdom and experience.
As far as your "bullshit" examples go, realize that we promote self-defense for the weak, and promote corrective lenses for those with bad vision. The burden to educate and improve our society does not solely lie with lawmakers to address weaknesses.
I also believe in root cause analysis to prevent or deter future criminal activity. Yes, we should have laws that deter criminal activity, but in order to eliminate the ability for the crime to exist and flourish, we need to promote an educated society, not just one that is merely helpful and friendly. And there are two teachers for that. As any parent can attest, sometimes the hard way is the only way.
Society foots the bill when ignorance is abused, so addressing root cause will reward all.