# What is going on with these GoPro "sales"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 5, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948 "2021-10-05T20:55:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/1 "2021-10-05T20:55:08Z")
I clicked on a Facebook ad for GoPro which shows they are running **[sales on their whole lines of cameras](https://goprous.top/products/)** for under $100, cameras that sold not so long ago for nearly $500 or more. Note the domain name, which seems a little fishy. The domain name’s registrant is hidden by the registrar. The site is branded as GoPro with a GoPro copyright notice. However, their **[mainstream site](https://gopro.com/en/us/shop/cameras/hero10-black/CHDHX-101-master.html)** shows these same products at much higher prices, $350-400.
Is Facebook hosting an ad for a scam? Or is this some kind of marketing technique to tempt known GoPro customers (I bought one last year) to buy even more for low prices? Or something more nefarious that I cannot even imagine?
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/2 "2021-10-05T20:56:41Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> Facebook hosting an ad for a scam?
Yes. Facebook is well known for allowing scammy ads. You would get a far inferior camera if you got one at all.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/3 "2021-10-05T20:58:53Z")
Yeah, you get a FauxPro
Edit: that is, if you even get a camera, or indeed, get anything at all. Some of these sites just take the money and run. Others send a cheap item like a pair of sunglasses out of a dropship fulfilment service, which creates tracking information that keeps PayPal off their back long enough to take the money and run.
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/4 "2021-10-05T21:01:28Z")
To be fair, I see a lot of scam ads other places too, like yahoo.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/6 "2021-10-05T21:05:37Z")
The Wikipedia article says that the .top domain is blocked by some systems, including that of my employer.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/7 "2021-10-06T00:25:43Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> I clicked on a Facebook ad
I operate under the assumption that all ads on the internet are a scam. If something piques your interest, go to GoPro via another route.
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/8 "2021-10-06T01:00:44Z")
> [@Folly](#):
>
> Yes. Facebook is well known for allowing scammy ads. You would get a far inferior camera if you got one at all.
I figured Facebook would have ads for crappy products but I didn’t realize they would allow blatant fakes.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/9 "2021-10-06T01:18:58Z")
For discussion see here:
> [@Facebook ads for scam products - I hates them, I does](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-ads-for-scam-products-i-hates-them-i-does/951860):
>
> Christmas is coming, and with it suddenly my Facebook feed is filled with “sponsored” posts promoting highly questionable products. A lot of them seem to come from “companies” with names that look like someone just buttonmashed their keyboard (e.g. “Hnhvoo”) but the stuff they’re purporting to sell is clearly not what buyers will receive. For example, a couple of them are plugging Loki advent calendars, complete with a picture of 24 little Loki figures you will apparently get. Except that the…
And here
> [@How can Amazon still have such suckass search a quarter century and billions into it?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-amazon-still-have-such-suckass-search-a-quarter-century-and-billions-into-it/951583):
>
> And I guess the answer is in the question: because it rules the world or nearly so, so why the fuck bother fixing it? But why does it seem I am the only person who actively finds it infuriating? You all DO notice it, doncha? For fucks’ sake, it’s fucking Amazon and they can’t do Boolean/filtered/refined searching properly? Seriously? If you have never noticed anything and you are happy with the way it works, stop reading and stay satisfied. But others: “sort by” magically ADDS another 15,000 …
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/10 "2021-10-06T01:56:10Z")
Interesting discussion. It seems to be about Brand X products with probably inferior merchandise but my case is the first I’ve heard of someone counterfeiting a brand name web site. It’s probably to either harvest credit card numbers, or something else. I tried to see what would happen if I logged in. It doesn’t even ask for a password, it just asks for an email address (I gave it a throwaway) and then emails you a link. You click the link and you are logged in.
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### Author:  [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/11 "2021-10-06T02:58:15Z")
I got taken in by a scam ad on Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) masquerading as a Rothy’s shoes sale. If you’re not familiar, they’re flats that look good enough to wear with a suit, but they’re woven from recycled materials, supposedly very comfortable, and machine washable. They retail for $125 and up; these were “on sale” for $70. This site turned out to be a seller in China. I’m not certain whether the shoes I got were fakes, but they were definitely not the size I ordered.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/12 "2021-10-06T07:48:31Z")
Yeah, Facebook is terrible for scam ads. Worse, if you report an ad as a scam, most of the time, they do nothing except to not show you (just you) that specific ad again for a while.
I’ve bought a few items from these ads (knowing it was a scam) in order to document the experience for others - for example, there was an ad for a pocket-sized i7 laptop, priced $29 - what turned up was a pair of cheap sunglasses and a single disposable face mask\*.
I paid via PayPal - and they don’t always seem to appreciate what’s going on - so the scam vendor may say it was an honest mistake and that they will refund on return of the item - and PayPal may (or may not - it seems arbitrary) insist that the buyer covers the return shipping, to China, via a tracked method. At this point, the buyer may look at the cost of return shipping and decide it’s not worth the effort, if it wipes out most of the refund value.
\*As to why they bother sending anything at all - it provides tracking information to their payment processor, which buys them time to continue running the scam and may enable them to bank the payments and make off with the money.
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### Author:  [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/13 "2021-10-06T13:23:58Z")
While not completely fraudulent websites, I routinely see scam ads posted on some friends’ pages. These are people who don’t use Facebook much and at some point their password was compromised or a “friend of a friend” simply tagged everyone under the sun with their ad graphic, and they didn’t bother to report/delete those tags. These are usually for super cheap knockoff Ray-Ban sunglasses (Was $129.95 now $19.95!).
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-with-these-gopro-sales/951948/14 "2021-10-06T13:28:45Z")
I contacted the web hosting company Ecwid, and told them that the site appeared to be a fraudulent site impersonating GoPro. They sent me a reply that they have investigated and as a result have blocked the site.