PS5 photo scams force eBay to issue stern warning

History is full of examples of people ready to take advantage of their follows given the opportunity, even during times of crises and misfortune. The launch of new hot products is easily one such opportunity and the new PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles are no exception, with eager and desperate buyers becoming easy prey for scalpers and scammers. One odd scam even involves trying to dupe people into buying what turns out to be just photos or the PS5 on eBay. Unfortunately, the low price seems to have successfully conned not a few interested bidders.

It’s one of those cases where you won’t notice anything amiss if you don’t read carefully. These listings on eBay do indicate they are photos or images only, or boxes only, as if the four-digit price tags weren’t enough of a giveaway. Others do offer unbelievable prices for what some mistake for the actual console, leading some to actually bid on the item.

Regardless of outright warning or absurdity, these are clearly scams designed to trick people out of their hard-earned money. They are also, of course, in violation of eBays policies. Given the rising number of such listings, the e-commerce site issued a statement condemning “opportunistic sellers” and are working to remove such items from the site.

Unfortunately, these scams pop up faster than eBay can probably remove them. There are also a few listings trying to sell raffle tickets to win a PS5 or even a cardboard box.

These scams, however, are just the tip of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S supply problems. Scalpers have held stocks of the new consoles for ransom, quickly swiping them off retailers even before buyers can get their hands on them. This problem isn’t new, of course, and the industry definitely needs to step up their game to keep such practice at bay.

:story: SlashGear