# One woo-tech purveyor down, how many to go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309 "2013-05-02T14:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/1 "2013-05-02T14:20:28Z")
One of the sadder aspects of the current Gulf wars is that a number of sellers of woo tech have made fortunes selling garbage to the military and para-military civilian groups - pure woo tech that could lead to unnecessary deaths. This guy just [got 10 years](http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/europe/uk-fake-bomb-detector/?hpt=wo_c2) for selling a delabeled golf-ball finder as an explosives detector - a piece of novelty junk that doesn’t even work for its intended purpose. He made a fortune and death from undetected explosives was one mistake away for the users. The more egregious case is the company that was selling monstrously expensive “hi tech” dowsing rods with absolutely no active (let alone “working”) components, for bomb detection. I haven’t heard of any resolution on that one, but I suggest a good outcome would be to drop the maker/fakers in a large minefield with one of their own devices, and we’ll watch the results on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/2 "2013-05-02T20:37:06Z")
I think the military procurement officers who buy this crap should get their butts kicked too. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/3 "2013-05-02T20:39:05Z")
This was done a week or two ago. My feeling is that the people who bought them and distributed them are about 100x more culpable than the guy who sold them. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/4 "2013-05-02T21:09:53Z")
ISTR hearing that there were some heavy bribes involved - that is, everyone involved from beginning to end knew they were wasting money on pure bullshit, but they all got to line their pockets along the way. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/5 "2013-05-02T21:20:43Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > This guy just [got 10 years](http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/europe/uk-fake-bomb-detector/?hpt=wo_c2) for selling a delabeled golf-ball finder as an explosives detector - a piece of novelty junk that doesn’t even work for its intended purpose. He made a fortune and death from undetected explosives was one mistake away for the users. > > **The more egregious case is the company that was selling monstrously expensive “hi tech” dowsing rods** with absolutely no active (let alone “working”) components, for bomb detection. I haven’t heard of any resolution on that one, but I suggest a good outcome would be to drop the maker/fakers in a large minefield with one of their own devices, and we’ll watch the results on YouTube. (Bolding mine) Are you sure those “two” (or more?) cases aren’t one and the same? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/6 "2013-05-05T21:56:09Z")
How does it find golf balls? ETA: Probably should have read the link. It doesn’t even find those. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/7 "2013-05-05T22:29:14Z")
Woo Tech’s last CD was kickin’ though! ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/8 "2013-05-05T22:31:03Z")
Caveat Emptor. Military procurement officials that approved buying these (obviously without testing them) these should go to jail as well. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/9 "2013-05-06T02:34:53Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > ISTR hearing that there were some heavy bribes involved - that is, everyone involved from beginning to end knew they were wasting money on pure bullshit, but they all got to line their pockets along the way. Looks that way from the linked article: > [@](#): > > An Iraqi general has been jailed for procuring the ADE 651 through “unauthorized” channels. British police believe that McCormick paid off officials to buy the ADE 651 Y’know, at least when our guys buy a $600 hammer, it IS a hammer. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/10 "2013-05-06T03:12:10Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > One of the sadder aspects of the current Gulf wars is that a number of sellers of woo tech have made fortunes selling garbage to the military and para-military civilian groups - pure woo tech that could lead to unnecessary deaths. > > This guy just [got 10 years](http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/europe/uk-fake-bomb-detector/?hpt=wo_c2) for selling a delabeled golf-ball finder as an explosives detector - a piece of novelty junk that doesn’t even work for its intended purpose. He made a fortune and death from undetected explosives was one mistake away for the users. > > The more egregious case is the company that was selling monstrously expensive “hi tech” dowsing rods with absolutely no active (let alone “working”) components, for bomb detection. I haven’t heard of any resolution on that one, but **I suggest a good outcome would be to drop the maker/fakers in a large minefield with one of their own devices, and we’ll watch the results on YouTube.** I totally agree with this suggestion, with one addition. Drop the numbnuts who approved the purchase in the minefield with them. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-woo-tech-purveyor-down-how-many-to-go/657309/11 "2013-05-06T04:28:07Z")
Thailand is on the list of sucker countries that bought into this scam, so the subject comes up regularly in the newspapers here. Due in part to the “face-saving” culture here, there is often a call from politicians to just forget about it and move on. People are taught at an early age not to make others feel bad or embarrassed. This of course leads to a total lack of accountability. A few months ago, an ATM here dispensed a large amount of cash to a woman who only intended to make a small withdrawal. She reported the error to both the bank and the press (I assume, because it made the news), and was harshly chastised by one of the bank’s officers for calling attention to the bank’s mistake and therefore bringing shame to the bank (or words to that effect).