Home Exercise Equipment Fraud
-Counterfeit Home exercise equipment reportedly bought and sold online. It seems that banks and convenience stores aren’t the only targets for fraud in our on demand society.
Seattle PI blogs posted a story Friday claiming that Genevieve Rullan, a 34 year old woman from Seattle Washington was convicted and given a 30 day sentence for allegedly importing and selling home exercise equipment that was not the real deal.
According to the blog, court records stated that 210 counterfeit “Ab Circle Pro” machines were found at her home, and that prosecutors claimed that she sold over 1,000 counterfeit items on eBay in 2008 & 2009.
Along with the inception of eBay and other online commerce avenues, comes more opportunity for scammers to use their creativity to make money.
Importing goods from other countries has historically been left to major buyers, but the internet has allowed our global community easier access to these types of buyers.
In recent years eBay has become very competitive for suppliers as consumers are looking for bargains. In order to compete when selling popular items, you must cut your profit margin to the bare bones. Those suppliers with thin margins in the first place will be weeded out. Others, like this case will seek counterfeit items to keep profits up.
Moral of the story: You can’t always know that you are getting the real McCoy, but buying on a reputable platform such as eBay, and using PayPal for payment can cover your assets if it turns out that you have been ripped off. Both eBay & PayPal seek to protect their buyers, and have excellent buyer protection plans to safeguard your purchase.