More Aussies are falling victim to an organised criminal underground selling counterfeit smartphones, designed to look and feel like the real deal.
Courtney Smith says the seller who sold her a fake phone had an elaborate and believable story.Experts say vulnerable Australians are being ripped off by an 'underground economy' of counterfeit phones, being sold on the private market.
After being blocked online by the seller and speaking to other community members, Ms Smith realised she had fallen victim to a scam that had already impacted nine others in her home town of Albury."I've had to pay another $700 to get my old phone repaired since, so essentially I'm down nearly $2,000 from just a shit experience."A national issue
Shanaan Cohney says counterfeit phone manufacturing and sales often have links to large organised crime groups.Mr Cohney said scammers would often insert Chinese-manufactured low-end Android phones within the body of a more expensive model, creating a cheap but impressive-looking knock-off. "There'll be one party manufacturing them, another that is wholesaling them, and eventually individual lower-level criminals will be the retailers scamming individual people out of their hard-earned money."
"I would definitely encourage anyone purchasing electronics to actually try them live before completing a transaction.Kathy Sundstrom is the national outreach manager at the cyber support service ID Care. "People should never provide their drivers licence details when buying something on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree. It creates another world of pain when a person's identity is compromised."
Phones Fake Counterfeit Crime Marketplace Fake Mobile Phones Being Sold Online Facebook Marketplace Fake Phone Scam How To Avoid A Scam
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