If you're in the market for a good and cheap laptop, be wary of the different laptop scams that may be out there. This is especially true if the deal seems too good to be true. In this article, we've sieve out some of the more common laptop scams you'll see in the market so you can protect yourself from them.
1. EBay Laptop Scam
The first and most obvious place for laptop scams is EBay. Now, there are a LOT of scam artists in EBay selling laptops. They basically try to take your money and do not deliver the goods. Here are some pointers you need to check before you buy a laptop from EBay.
The seller is not in the same country as item The seller's laptop photo is a stock photo - not a custom one The seller does not list Paypal as a payment option The seller does not have a good feedback rating, or is new The seller does not respond to questions about the item
Any of the above points should trigger thoughts about the deal being suspect. My personal recommendation is to try to buy laptops from brand name manufacturer's websites instead of EBay.
2. Laptop Warranty Scams
If you are thinking of buying an extended warranty for your new laptop, you should be careful to check out the prices involved.
Electrical stores selling laptops using push extended warranties quite hard. These stores make a cut from selling the warranty, so you might end up paying slightly more in the long run. Besides, I've always believed that a laptop purchased from a good brand name manufacturer will last for some time. In any case, if the laptop goes bonkers after 2 years or so, forget the extended warranty - it's probably time to upgrade the whole machine.
3. Airport Laptop Scams
The airport is a hotbed for laptop scams. It has been found that 12,000 laptops are left behind in U.S. airports each week, according to a recent study by Dell. If you are travelling, take special note of the airport security checkpoint, scam artists might use a 'bait and switch' tactic to replace your laptop bag with a similar looking one. Trust me, this is known to happen.
4. Laptop Repair Scams
Here's another one I've heard about. Laptop scam artists respond to advertisements for 'laptop repair', saying they have say 20 laptops to repair based on a price of $X each. The scammer sends in a check that is probably more than the total price say X + $Y (as advance payment) and then asks for the difference. The victim would then send in a check on with difference ($Y) to the scammer, only to never hear from the fella again.
5. In-Your-Face Laptop Scams
Then there are what I call In-Your-Face laptop scams. Here, the scammers are really direct. Then approach you or set up a street stall with laptops being sold for rock bottom prices. You purchase a unit and hand over the cash. You're then handed a laptop bag containing bottles of water or soft drinks. Then the scammers run away before you can shout for help.
Conclusion
Well, hopefully the above has shown you some of the more common laptop scams that occur in the market. I'd be especially wary of EBay auction scams because those tend to be the most common type. The next time you're in the market for a laptop, be sure you trust the supplier before plonking down your cash.
