Virus removal Australia has been informed by multiple people that Fake phones are being sold throughout the Brisbane area on Facebook Market place as well as Gumtree which according to reports have a very good build quality on the outside however as soon as you turn them on – they run very sluggish and are not the official Android software which could also mean that entering information into these phones could also mean that your security credentials that you enter for all your personal information (emails as well as Banking information) can also be sent to the manufacturers of the fake software for them to also attempt to scam you and potentially have key loggers installed.
While there is more information coming to hand we want to give you some tips that these crime gangs use so that you can avoid having to buy a fake Android Phone.
1. These scum always want to meet in a public place. You might initially think that they are only meeting in a public place because they want to be safe, however they meet you in a public place so that you never know where they live and will never be able to find them again. If you do meet them at their “home” usually it will be at a block of units where they will be already waiting outside for you to give the illusion that they live there, however do this so that you still never know where they live.
2. They always want cash. While most marketplace sellers are preferring cash at the moment due to the PAYID scams that are also going around however these uneducated Scum WHO love crime will usually want the cold hard cash to buy their Nike TN’s as well as drugs so that’s also a big warning sign that you could be about to be ripped off.
2. The phones are exceptional build quality. One of the surest way that you can verify that your phone is legit – is by signing into the phone. When you sign into the phone, usually you get an email from Samsung / Google about setting up a new phone. This is important because the IMEI number is checked against the database at google verifying that the phone is legit.
3. These phones are SEALED usually which to most people further enforces that this phone is legit. If you are unsure of whether you are meeting a legit person, perhaps try organising to meet them for the sale outside your local police station. Most honest people not committing any crime would not be bothered on the location of where they are meeting so that can be a feeler that you throw out there straight away.
4. In the past it was usually always easier to tell if a phone was not legit because the IMEI number on the box was usually generic – however the makers of these phones are now getting more creative and making unique IMEI numbers on the boxes to make you look like you are getting a unique phone.
5. The price of the phone will usually be way cheaper than the cost of legit phones in order to suck you in. Sometimes these scammers will also mention about making an offer as they are happy to get any price for them to support their criminal lifestyle. Also a big indication of a scammer is that they want to hurry the transaction so that you don’t have time to think about it and inspect the phone. We deal with a lot of scammers who pretend to be the bank, Telstra, Microsoft or optus and the reason why people fall for this is because under pressure people don’t think as clear. So if the person your buying the phone from seems to be in a rush know that this is a typical sign.
6. While there will definitely be different versions of these fakes (getting better with each revision) these are some telltale signs that you might want to look out for.
– The S pen mounting location is not central and is towards the back of the device.
Location of the hole on a genuine S23U is central as below
To help spot the obvious signs on the box which may be small however a telltale sign without signing into the device will be the following – on the right-hand side you have an outline for the sticker to go on – however the fake boxes, don’t have this guide line for the sticker.
As you can also see the front of the phone box looks almost identical to the fake one.
Hopefully, this guide as well as the listings that I have created on Facebook Market place will prevent you from being scammed. No one likes being scammed and if you have purchased one of these phones, try not to sell your fake phone to someone else to recoup your loss, becuase that makes you as bad as the scammer.
