# How did I get duped? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458 "2025-04-24T21:34:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/41 "2025-04-25T17:32:20Z")
I like the copy under the photo: “Note: PERIODIC inside the elements to prevail in kind” Sounds legit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/42 "2025-04-25T18:52:19Z")
The other thing I sort of expected to see, but wasn’t there in this case, was a periodic animated jiggle on the ‘add to cart’ button - it’s another feature of shopify and similar that most sane and honest shop sites have the sense to turn off. If you see a ‘buy now’ or ‘add to cart’ button that is fidgeting annoyingly on the page, the site is likely run by scammers. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/43 "2025-04-25T19:56:52Z")
There’s a pretty good chance that there are a few molecules of all the elements in the display. So- maybe all they needed to do was ship it with a magnifying glass… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/44 "2025-04-25T20:19:43Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > So-- maybe all they needed to do was ship it with a magnifying glass… …that doesn’t magnify. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/45 "2025-04-25T20:56:59Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > A copy. As in duplicate. The only time I’ve heard “dupe” used that way is in the context of online role-playing games. Such as a duping exploit you could do in World of Warcraft to make items or gold in your inventory multiply. > **[Dupe](https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dupe)** > > A dupe or duplication comes in two forms. It can be either a program, which you run, or a method, in which instructions are passed around the internet on how to 'dupe'. > There are also a few types of dupes: > > Item dupe: a duplication method or program... Other than that, I’ve only heard it means being tricked. Though I guess GenZ sometimes uses “dupe” to mean a “knock-off” version of something. But even then, it’s a noun, not a verb, so that wouldn’t apply to the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/46 "2025-04-25T21:16:41Z")
Just out of interest, I mention that I knew someone who built a real periodic table. A wooden table that contains samples of nearly all elements in its boxes. See [The Wooden Periodic Table Table](https://theodoregray.com/periodictable/). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/47 "2025-04-25T21:22:01Z")
This could be a thread shit. So we’ll end it here.(that I inadvertently started, a—gain!) If you notice my post added it as an aside. Not an explanation of his getting ripped off. Just an aside. A bit of color. A silliness. Let’s move on. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/48 "2025-04-26T02:09:37Z")
Just for fun… The Tellus Science Museum in Georgia has one of those periodic tables where every element (when possible!) are displayed. Hard to show the ones with half lives of seconds. 🙂 > **[PERIODIC TABLE - Tellus Museum in Cartersville, Georgia](https://tellusmuseum.org/program/periodic-table/)** > > Learn about the basics and the makeup of the periodic table, like why elements are in the same group number have similar chemical reactivity. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/49 "2025-04-26T02:18:52Z")
Did you happen to buy the thing with a credit card? Usually the credit card company is very good about stuff like this. You just file a chargeback (takes a few seconds and a couple clicks on a website, typically, or call them if you prefer). Then the credit card company will take a few weeks to investigate the issue and talk to the merchant on your behalf, acting as a mediator. Though for a small purchase like this from a Chinese company, especially one where they then ripped you off on shipping, the bank would probably just eat the cost and refund you. The tricky part is if you ordered through PayPal. Then you’d go through their Buyer Protection program and hope for the best. If you charged that back, it’s be against PayPal and not the actual merchant. You would probably still get the money back but PayPal would probably close your account and ban you. It’s usually safer to buy shady international things directly with a credit card instead of through a middleman like PayPal. US law limits your liability for fraudulent credit card purchases, and many banks will further reduce that to $0. They also have strong chargeback protections, and merchants hate those because it means they won’t be able to accept credit cards after a limited amount of strikes. It has more teeth than PayPal. PayPal isn’t subject to the same legal regulations and you’re pretty much just at their mercy. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/50 "2025-04-26T04:11:47Z")
> [@robby](#): > > “Be one of the handful people on earth to possess all stable elements of the UNIVERSE.” Ahhh, only the stable ones… maybe because there are some that are radioactive or otherwise dangerous. And it might be tricky to display samples of the gases. > [@mixdenny](#): > > For some time I have wanted a periodic table with tiny pieces of real elements to display. That could be the last project you undertake (pun intended). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/51 "2025-04-26T05:52:45Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Question is thus begged that hasn’t been answered here yet: how much would having one gram of each element then cost? Gold by itself is currently over $100 per gram. FWIW here’s what ChatGPT said about it: > **Summary** > > To estimate the total cost of one gram of each naturally occurring stable element, we need to: > > ``` > List all stable naturally occurring elements (excluding radioactive ones like uranium, thorium, etc.). > > Find the approximate price per gram for each. > > Sum the costs. > > ``` > > There are about 83 naturally occurring elements, but some are radioactive (like uranium and thorium), and some are noble gases which aren’t practical to buy by the gram. So we’ll focus on stable, non-radioactive, solid/liquid/gas elements that can be purchased. > > Here’s a simplified cost breakdown (rounded estimates for clarity): > Category Price Range Example Elements > Common metals $0.01 – $1 per gram Iron, aluminum, copper, zinc > Semi-precious elements $1 – $100 per gram Tin, bismuth, cobalt, silver > Precious metals $50 – $100 per gram Gold, platinum, palladium > Rare elements $100 – $10,000+ per gram Rhodium, lutetium, scandium, hafnium > Noble gases (if extractable) $1 – $1000+ per gram Helium, neon, xenon (hard to contain as 1g gas) > Others with limited availability Varies wildly Francium (too unstable), technetium (radioactive), etc. > Approximate Total Cost: > > ``` > Common elements (~50 elements): ~$100 > > Precious/rare metals (~20 elements): ~$5,000 > > Exotic/stable rare earths (~10 elements): ~$10,000+ > > Noble gases (if bought as gas samples): ~$500 > > ``` > > Estimated Total: > > ~$15,000 to $20,000 USD for 1 gram of each stable, naturally occurring element that’s legally and commercially obtainable. > > Would you like a full list with element-by-element pricing? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/52 "2025-04-26T08:03:08Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > I’m not convinced that it’s economically workable to capture, contain, and mount _any_ amount of samples of all the stable elements for under $100. And especially not if you start to think of the spicier elements I’m actually quite surprised that it can be done under $1000, but it looks like the one above for \<$300 is legit. They acknowledge that not all of the elements are pure (I hope no one was really expecting pure fluorine), and they’re obviously missing the strongly radioactive elements, but 85 is a good collection. I can see the use a mercury tilt switch for that one. The radium is a real watch hand, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/53 "2025-04-26T09:30:23Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > It’s usually safer to buy shady international things directly with a credit card instead of through a middleman like PayPal. US law limits your liability for fraudulent credit card purchases, and many banks will further reduce that to $0. They also have strong chargeback protections, and merchants hate those because it means they won’t be able to accept credit cards after a limited amount of strikes. It has more teeth than PayPal. PayPal isn’t subject to the same legal regulations and you’re pretty much just at their mercy. One potential risk there is that some of the payment portals on scam websites are not what they seem and are not actually taking a validated payment, but just collecting your card details in order for them to be abused - not necessarily just for spurious immediate charges, but in some cases they might be used as part of a phishing attack (where the caller seems legit because they know stuff about your banking) or I’ve also heard of cases where small random transactions appeared over a longer period - which may trick people who don’t diligently balance their statement. Obviously the protection from using a credit card is not to be understated, but it’s also important to sometimes decide just not to buy those shady international things because they are shady. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/54 "2025-04-26T12:15:52Z")
[XKCD on what would happen if](https://englishatlc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/randall-munroe-periodic-wall-of-elements.pdf) all known elements were arrayed on a wall and left to their own devices. [the link should be safe-this was from his 1st What If book but the original entry has been deleted from his site] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/55 "2025-04-26T12:21:19Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [the link should be safe-this was from his 1st What If book but the original entry has been deleted from his site] I wonder if its because: > Of the 118 elements, 30 of them – like helium, carbon, aluminum, iron, and **ammonia** … ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/56 "2025-04-26T12:26:57Z")
Yeah, that copy of the article was apparently an earlier draft. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/57 "2025-04-26T16:51:28Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Gold by itself is currently over $100 per gram. Why would you need a whole gram?. A few square millimeters of gold leaf costs pennies. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/58 "2025-04-26T17:09:22Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [XKCD on what would happen if](https://englishatlc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/randall-munroe-periodic-wall-of-elements.pdf) all known elements were arrayed on a wall and left to their own devices. Nice summary. Of course we are not going to have all the dangerous elements _loose_, ferchrisake. Elements will be in capsules or bottles as required. Collecting elements is a valid hobby and there are many great looking examples available. A whole subset of this is collecting radioactive specimens. I occasionally visit the Reddit for this. Another subset I have noticed is that there are companies that produce ingots of pure elements in the same form as gold or silver bars. Nice looking but a display bar of copper or aluminum costs about a hell of a lot more then the melt value. > **[1 Pound Copper Bar - Elemental | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/152998904495?_skw=copper%2Belement%2Bbar&itmmeta=01JSSH2MP5PP4FBC2SKAXWXHM6&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1fqjbjXQOd3NkUnS1KKqvdmnc7F2Puq5daW4toc2DC5SwATfi%2BJX8RWQuhsgtLqKreO4JF%2Fu8S%2BBMUsJu0EUcf2YxXXoaEAk4VcFNv6S0MvPekb57LzrOwRByKNZqNjkT%2F%2BYRrGRnD7%2B%2FRjgcOeTQ%2FDWfVu%2F3pboYbqJ5AI2IXoosHGm4I%2B5MYzhc5EQidrL2WKKlAogt5XAAGbSH5aVAksqvJZSWqNAjf3Aau4jow3MDz27Bhm25cN2Xf6wtGxE2pN6%2FrL8sATIWx%2BYsxYZ2lCsFKDtnQK5anP%2FmDTmR2oTA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMsMuKsc5l)** > > Each bar is. 999 fine copper. 1 Oz Copper. Large Copper. Each bar is in Perfect Gem condition! 1 oz Copper Round - Colt 45. 1 oz Copper Round - M16. The more you buy, the more you save! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/59 "2025-04-26T17:20:11Z")
Aren’t a bunch of those elements at the bottom only in existence in a lab for a fraction of a second at a time? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458/60 "2025-04-26T17:57:07Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Obviously the protection from using a credit card is not to be understated, but it’s also important to sometimes decide just not to buy those shady international things because they are shady. The few times I decide to buy from a questionable site, I use a service like Privacy to make one-time credit card number. I don’t know how it would work out from a buyer protection angle but I know they can’t sell or run up my credit card info. And anything I couldn’t eat as a loss, I’m not buying from TotallyLegitMerch.biz anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-i-get-duped/1017458.md?page=4)