Man Buys iPad, Gets Box Of Clay Instead, Ends Up Arrested

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How many times have we heard the stories about someone buying an iPad that turns out to be a box of rocks, bricks, notepads or miscellaneous garbage? Well the same thing happened to this guy but, in a strange twist to an old tale, the guy was arrested when he tried to return it.

On opening the box he discovered the device had been replaced with three lumps of grey clay. He immediately returned to the store for a refund but was reported to the police by suspicious Tesco staff. Two days later Mr. Marsh, who runs two bakeries, got a call asking him to report to his local police station where he was arrested.
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Read about this earlier today. He man was found to have been innocent. What's odd about this is that however lifted the iPad knew the person that bought the fake. It had to be something going on at the Tesco where he purchased it.
 
heatlesssun said:
Read about this earlier today. He man was found to have been innocent. What's odd about this is that however lifted the iPad knew the person that bought the fake. It had to be something going on at the Tesco where he purchased it.
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No, the cops were just trying to get him to confess by saying it had been registered in his name.
 
It was registered in his name. That's full on identity theft.

How on earth did that go down like that?

We are missing the whole other side of this story... the Tesco somehow replaced the device... AND took/sold his info to activate it?

That's some serious inside job.
 
yeah, so what is the answer? the article didn't finish the story. Obviously the only way the fraudster could have known the customers name was through the store. So who was it and what affiliation did they have to the store? And considering the store's involvement, how is it possible they never apologized to the customer?
 
Buying ipads for 11 and 8 year olds...*sigh*

I guess it isn't just America that's crazy.
 
Koolthulu said:
No, the cops were just trying to get him to confess by saying it had been registered in his name.
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That's not what this article is saying:

Kent Police said: "Mr Marsh was arrested on suspicion of fraud following information that the iPad in question had apparently been registered in his name at some time between 21 and 24 December 2012.

"This was investigated and as soon as it became clear that Mr Marsh had not committed any offences, his bail was cancelled and he was informed police would not be taking any further action against him."
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Indeed I don't think that the police would have done anything about this unless Tesco somehow went to them with evidence that the device had been register in his name. They wouldn't have had anything to go on with the registration.
 
Advil said:
We are missing the whole other side of this story... the Tesco somehow replaced the device... AND took/sold his info to activate it?

That's some serious inside job.
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Exactly. Assuming that the device was indeed registered in his name, someone at Tesco HAD to be responsible at the point of sale because that would have been the only way to link this particular device to this particular customer.
 
What evidence could Tesco even provide that he registered it? They wouldnt know what email address was used, nor would they be able to get Apple to tell them based on the serial sold. I've dealt with cops before, they often fabricate evidence to get you to confess.
 
McFry said:
What evidence could Tesco even provide that he registered it? They wouldnt know what email address was used, nor would they be able to get Apple to tell them based on the serial sold. I've dealt with cops before, they often fabricate evidence to get you to confess.
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Fabricate evidence over single iPad that was sold at a store and the cops had no vested interest in it one way or another? Tesco certainly could have gone to Apple being a huge retailer and gotten something from them.
 
UUUHHHH...you folks DID notice that the event in the story happened LAST CHRISTMAS didn't you?
 
If he bought an iPad and got a brick then he got what he paid for. Guy should've waited for iPad 2014 with 2GB DRAM so solve all the low memory crashes.
 
I was at the apple store in Nebraska Furniture Mart a few days ago and this subject came up. Several of the store employes said that Apple and possible other manufactures are moving to a different type of packaging where this could no longer happen.

Whatever that means. Maybe a portion of the actual product viewable from outside the box?
 
SixFootDuo said:
I was at the apple store in Nebraska Furniture Mart a few days ago and this subject came up. Several of the store employes said that Apple and possible other manufactures are moving to a different type of packaging where this could no longer happen.

Whatever that means. Maybe a portion of the actual product viewable from outside the box?
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It will come in a clear plastic box like the ipods.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I was at the apple store in Nebraska Furniture Mart a few days ago and this subject came up. Several of the store employes said that Apple and possible other manufactures are moving to a different type of packaging where this could no longer happen.

Whatever that means. Maybe a portion of the actual product viewable from outside the box?
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Intel does the window trick. It has been 100% effective: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/05/newegg_selling_fake_intel_cpus#.UoruJEP_65Q :p
 
Would be nice if the article posted when he bought it, before or after it was registered?

Morale of the story, open your shit at the store insight of a camera, customer service desk, or at the register.
 
He should have just saved the time and stuffed it with dough from his bakery instead of spending more money on clay.
 
What i'd like to know is it's normal practice in america for a business to send police over to a clients house and put him in custody. Would a store like Walmart, Circuit City or even Dominoes be able to involve the police to verify a complaint?
 
Correction. UK, but the question applies either way.
 
Sly said:
What i'd like to know is it's normal practice in america for a business to send police over to a clients house and put him in custody.
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Where exactly did you see that they sent the police over to his house and put him in custody over this?
 
My bad, he got summoned to the police station and put in a cell.

Same question, is this standard practice for a business to involve the police over a customer complaint.
 
Sly said:
My bad, he got summoned to the police station and put in a cell.

Same question, is this standard practice for a business to involve the police over a customer complaint.
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When the customer "complaint" looked to be an attempt at fraud they reported it to the local authorities, most businesses will report fraud to the local authorities if they think it will lead to the person prosecuted.
 
Sly said:
What i'd like to know is it's normal practice in america for a business to send police over to a clients house and put him in custody. Would a store like Walmart, Circuit City or even Dominoes be able to involve the police to verify a complaint?
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Best Buy has and does and will. Back in 2003 I was at a Best Buy when a guy was returning a dvd player because there was a VCR in the box. Best Buy called the popo. Then there's the guy that got arrested for paying with $2 bills. Guess where that happened. Yep, Best Buy.
 
What does it take to register an iPad? If he was an user of the store with online purchases could they have a credit card on record and an e-mail belonging to him in their records? Is that enough to fake a registration.
 
I hope I don't get arrested when I return my iPad Mini today.
 
Bone_Enterprise said:
When the customer "complaint" looked to be an attempt at fraud they reported it to the local authorities, most businesses will report fraud to the local authorities if they think it will lead to the person prosecuted.
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Doesn't seem right man, especially with these things that practically report themselves. They're well equipped and capable of verifying his identity and locating his ipad inhouse rather than sic'ing the police first thing before even confirming his purchase.
 
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