# Don't take any wooden iPads! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 31, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714 "2011-08-31T02:13:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/1 "2011-08-31T02:13:31Z")
(Trying to find a ‘pig in a poke’ pun, but failing.) [Woman buys fake, wooden iPad for $180](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44334747/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.Tl2XgEar9FM) > [@](#): > > Ashley McDowell, 22, said she was getting food at about 10 p.m. Monday when two men approached her in the parking lot. The men showed McDowell a new iPad, and told her that they had bought several of them in bulk at a good price and had them in FedEx boxes in the trunk of their car. > > \ > > Once at home, she opened it and found a piece of wood painted black with an Apple logo on it. First: Don’t buy anything from a guy in a parking lot. Second: Look in the box. And, WTFO? What made the guys think someone _wouldn’t_ want to see the merchandise? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/2 "2011-08-31T02:19:45Z")
A painted piece of wood might have been good enough to pass cursory inspection in a parking lot at 10 PM. This is probably aided by the presumption most of their clientele would have that the merchandise was stolen, and thus they would not want to spend too much time in the transaction. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/3 "2011-08-31T02:49:59Z")
Not surprised. People have been buying boxes of phone books and bricks out of the trunks of cars in parking lots for about as long as there have been phone books, bricks, car trunks and parking lots. People are greedy and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/4 "2011-08-31T05:11:06Z")
You disappoint me. You didn’t post any of the hilarious circumstances! [ul] [li]It was a McDonald’s parking lot[/li][li]The two men rolled up in a white Chevy Impala[/li][li]With no rims[/li][li]They initially asked for $300, she claimed she only had $180[/li][li]They immediately accepted[/li][li]One of them had a gold tooth.[/li][/ul] Here’s a better link: [The Smoking Gun: iPlank](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/swindled-by-wooden-ipad-859632) I like to imagine her opening the box, pulling out the iPlank, and then exclaiming: “And _ **that’s** _ when I began to think it might be a scam!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/5 "2011-08-31T05:25:06Z")
Did it have Nine Inch Nails already on it? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/6 "2011-08-31T13:16:19Z")
Yeah, she thought she was buying a stolen ipad and got ripped off, then thought it would be helpful to report the incident. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/7 "2011-08-31T13:21:58Z")
I guess I’m cynical. I just can’t believe that people fall for this. OTOH, people still fall for the Nigerian scams, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. (Still, how can people still fall for the Nigerian scam? :smack: ) I’ve had the [White Van scam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speaker_scam) tried on me once. Needless to say, I didn’t buy any speakers that day. The funniest one was when I was buying fuel. A guy comes up to me and tries to sell me a ‘solid gold bracelet’. To prove it was solid gold he pulled out a Bic lighter and held a flame to it. Apparently that was supposed to prove it was gold somehow. Being in a mildly dicey area, I refrained from laughing in his face. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/8 "2011-08-31T13:25:13Z")
The bic lighter = authentic thing is universal. I was in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and about one in 5 vendors would use the lighter to prove their cheap crap was in fact priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/9 "2011-08-31T13:26:59Z")
Do you remember what was supposed to happen if it wasn’t ‘real gold’? I don’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/10 "2011-08-31T13:31:23Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > Did it have Nine Inch Nails already on it? And King Creosote, I heard. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/11 "2011-08-31T13:45:46Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Not surprised. People have been buying boxes of phone books and bricks out of the trunks of cars in parking lots for about as long as there have been phone books, bricks, car trunks and parking lots. I believe both selling stolen goods out of a car trunk and scamming people who think they’re buying stolen goods predates both the phone book and the automobile. (Just as the Nigerian scam predates Nigeria.) ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/12 "2011-08-31T13:53:41Z")
An Apple-based scam with a happier ending: [P-P-P-Powerbook!](http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/13 "2011-08-31T14:21:52Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Do you remember what was supposed to happen if it wasn’t ‘real gold’? I don’t remember. It wasn’t just gold, I looked at a wallet and said something like, “that’s not real leather,” and boom out came the bic lighter held a good nine inches under the item. The used the lighter schtick for everything. My friend and I wanted to find a exsplosives kiosk and say, “that’s not real TNT…” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/14 "2011-08-31T14:57:37Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It wasn’t just gold, I looked at a wallet and said something like, “that’s not real leather,” and boom out came the bic lighter held a good nine inches under the item. The used the lighter schtick for everything. My friend and I wanted to find a exsplosives kiosk and say, “that’s not real TNT…” Even just a stall selling lighters could be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/15 "2011-08-31T15:54:13Z")
Just when you think it’s safe to be from South Carolina again… ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/16 "2011-08-31T16:07:01Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > An Apple-based scam with a happier ending: [P-P-P-Powerbook!](http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/) I’ve read that quite a few times since it came out and it always makes the rest of my day happier 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/17 "2011-08-31T16:16:24Z")
It was cutting board technology. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/18 "2011-08-31T17:06:40Z")
Had some mooks in a red van offer to sell me some sneakers once. I can only assume that, had I agreed, I would have been given a box containing some cheap pair or something else entirely unlike sneakers. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/19 "2011-08-31T17:14:32Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Just when you think it’s safe to be from South Carolina again… And here I was thinking the OP victim was naive 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714/20 "2011-08-31T17:14:37Z")
You can’t cheat an honest man, as the saying goes. I also don’t get the detail of painting an Apple logo on a board though. If the mark opens the box, that’s not going to fool her, and if she doesn’t, why waste the time? How does the Nigerian scam predate Nigeria? What do you consider to be the starting date of Nigeria? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-take-any-wooden-ipads/594714.md?page=2)