Usually finding ripoffs on the internet pisses me off just a bit, but once in a while I come across one that is just so brazen in it’s claims that you know that the stupid people ordering it just might deserve what they get.
You may have seen stories about that special glass bear decanter that Starbucks put out this year-you know, the one the shortchanged all their store on and is available for sale and/or auction for many, many times the original value? Today I got a link to a website that says it is offering that same authentic Starbucks bear glass…for only $9.95! And they only have 12 left! (that number never changes, btw) And it changes color depending on what you put into it! About that last item-It is a clear glass container, so if you put red fluid into it, it amazingly becomes red. If you put a blue fluid into it, it amazingly turns blue! If you put…anyway, you get the pathetic picture by now. I know there is a damn good chance that anybody ordering this will get nothing in return, but I honestly wonder if someone actually receiving something might not be even worse off.
What craptastic ripoffs have you found on the internet lately?
My high school senior son recently asked me for a set of small tools for repairing woodwinds (he’s started giving lessons and his students’ instruments often need repairs). I knew I could get most of what he wanted at Home Depot but decided to see if something more domain specific was available online.
On an instrument resell site we’ve used I found someone selling an instrument repair toolkit for $99. It was the exact set of small screwdrivers I had recently purchased to work on electronics for $12 at my local hardware store.
I’m being bombarded by knives on Facebook. If you hover over and ad for more than a couple of seconds, they swarm you. Knives with fancy bone handles, knives with ripples, knives that look sort of like a cleaver had an illicit affair with a chef’s knife. And they all cut things paper thin, because that’s usually what all cooks are doing all the time.
It was supposed to say “the one they shortchanged all their stores on”. There are many reports that they shipped far too few bear glasses out to the individual Starbucks, causing an artificial shortage.
I’m fond of the Computer Clan’s Tech Scams on Youtube:
Among others, it debunks the Chillwell A/C unit that came up in a prior thread. And they do a good job of pointing out the other tricks, including the one that @Czarcasm mentioned, where the limited quantities are always static or (slightly more clever) slowly count down and periodically reset.
There’s one I’ve been seeing on YouTube ads recently (which have irritatingly been tending very maga since Trump was re-elected Dunno if other people have noticed this? ). It’s pretty weird as I don’t actually know the angle of the scammer who’s pitching it…
There a couple of varieties but it’s always it’s some fake tanned RFK jnr style snake oil salesman. But he’s not selling his bullshit pills, he’s selling some equally bullshit cure based on regular household ingredients. Like “spread olive and baking soda on your taint before bed and you are guaranteed to see a massive increase in testosterone levels! The medical establishment don’t want you to know this.” But if I were to do this what would he get out of it? I already have plenty of olive oil and baking soda. I presume if were to watch to the end he’d try and sell me his book or series of educational videos. But I never do, needless to say.
What he geta is all the personal info that can be sold off, and when he gets enough hits, links, likes etc. , he strips out his personal info and sells off the page pre-loaded with all those hits, links, likes etc.
On The Guardian’s site, I recently got an ad that said something like, “Eat like the Gospels!” or “It’s not a battle between you and fat, it’s between you and Satan,” illustrated by a cartoon of White Jesus preaching to a bunch of White Republicans.
I was curious what “eating like the gospels” meant–lots of fish and bread and wine? nummy hummus and falafel? something else? – so I foolishly clicked the link. Instead of telling me what it meant, it was page after page of surveys, and after filling out a few pages with fake information, I got disgusted and gave up.
For weeks, every ad I got on the Guardian was about eating like the gospels and trying the diet against Satan and so on.
I’m pretty that would be an all bread, fish, and wine diet (maybe with figs, olive oil and mustard, though those are just mentioned not actually consumed IIRC)
Another one that’s always amusing to me is the cookie-driven ads for ethnic “dating” sites. Like if I search for something related to Iran (like “Iranian nuclear deal”) I’ll get a “meet hot Iranian women in town where my VPN is connected to the Internet” ad along with a picture of a voluptuous ethnic lady. But then if I search for something about Bulgaria I’ll get “meet hot Bulgarian women in town where my VPN is connected to the Internet” but the picture will be the same voluptuous ethnic lady.
Unfortunately I am sure it’s only a matter of time in these days of AI slop, that they will start generating the voluptuous ethnic lady in response to whatever you searched for.
But it’s a YouTube ad, it doesn’t obviously ask for interaction (except for the skip button). I’m sure there is a link somewhere but it’s not super obvious I can’t imagine the target audience are the kind of observant Internet user who will find it.
Has ANYONE tried to take advantage of one of these “limited time” offers, only to find that the offer has indeed expired, and they explicitly tell you that you are shit out luck, they’re all completely out of stock, you snooze you lose, sucks to be you, better luck next time…?
Possibly but it’s not particularly obvious how. And I don’t think YouTube ads are cheap like regular banner ads.
Maybe there is a certain self-selection at work. If you are impressed enough by this douche bag’s olive oil on taint cure for impotence to watch his whole ad and find the link. Then you have identified yourself as an absolutely grade-A mark who will fall for whatever manner of scam he sends your way
Seriously, though I saw The Last Supper in person earlier this year in Milan, and it was painted that way—as a large mural in the refectory (i.e. dining hall) of a monastery—so that the monks could pretend they were participating in the Last Supper. The perspective in the mural was such that the painted table and painted room are an extension of the dining hall itself.
That’s why everyone in the famous mural painting is seated on one side of the table. The monks would be seated on the other side.
I’d hate to get an unauthentic one. 
Dunno if other people have noticed this? ). It’s pretty weird as I don’t actually know the angle of the scammer who’s pitching it…