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In the last year or so, there has been a huge increase in online gambling advertising that offers very good items for incredible prices but is, in fact, a complete scam. Read here on Xgtiger Casino!
Imagine a glossy video ad with all the elements of a brand new device so cheap that you’re quickly tempted to click ‘buy’ before actually checking out who’s selling it and why.
A Social Media Minefield
About a year ago, I was looking online for some new cargo shorts, and hours later – like magic – an ad for exactly what I was looking for popped up on that popular social media site that should let’s stop using it.
I opened the ad, watched the promo, looked through the catalog, and picked a pair of shorts that arrived in about three months, despite choosing ‘express shipping’!
By this time I had danced around with the payment system to try to get my funds back to no avail and had already bought another pair and gone on the trip I had planned.
But when they arrived, they were almost laughably poorly made, and while I didn’t love them, I felt like I’d been careless and suitably annoyed with myself.
But lesson learned, right?
wrong
About a week ago, I did it again, and this time, I knew right away that I had made the same mistake.
The Signs
As with all scams, the signs aren’t always there or quickly seen, but generally, these online fakes have some signs you can spot.
The main tip-off is the name of the company, usually resulting from picking up a random fistful of scrabble tiles.
The names are meaningless, have no meaning in any language, and are probably one of thousands of hit-and-run identities used to make sales before being banned or shut down only to pop up again with same content, same fake. deals, and same graphics but different silly name.
The text used in the advertising can also be very poor English, and it’s a giveaway unless the company says it’s not based in an English-speaking country.
Scam ads tend to force the impression that they are in the UK or US and not in China (or elsewhere), but this deception is often a tip-off for a bigger lie (which you won’t accept what they claim to sell).
The price is also a dead giveaway on some items.
For example, I once searched for silicone horror masks. My social media exploded with ads for incredible covers at cheap prices with videos that looked like a scene from Mission Impossible as old men, demons, and Frankenstein’s monsters removed their face to reveal a completely different person underneath.
And the price is around $30 (plus shipping), so who can resist?
This time, I wasn’t remotely tempted, but many people fell for these fake ads.
Knowing how silicone masks work and how much they cost, it’s easy to see through them.
But a lot of people don’t, and there’s a long line of pissed-off Halloween fanatics who have received flimsy, unpainted latex masks with cheap nylon hair attached to eyebrows or beards.
The cargo shorts I bought were around $20, so cheaper than the pair I bought last time from a UK company, but there are some subtle differences with the team from China.
They might fit a child, the buttons aren’t sewn where they should be (and have too little thread), and the material can’t compete (in terms of quality and strength) with whatever you last blew on your nose
They are very bad; as if I did it myself!
A sure indicator that you have fallen for a fake ad is that after reading the website, the advertising and the online catalog in English (or your local language) change to Chinese characters when your purchase is completed.
Not to say that all Chinese companies are scammers, but if they present themselves as a Western company with Western locations and then switch at the last minute, you almost certainly won’t get what you expect.
Stolen Sites
Many of these tip-offs require a little caution to be aware of when it comes to online casino games. However, after a few beers and a midnight movie, it’s possible that ‘yours truly’ may have recently fallen for an ad with a believable name, a funny but intriguing product, and professional graphics, text, and video. .
The product appeared in my feed and, in this case, was unrelated to any previous searches or interests.
It’s a cookware that claims to help roast chicken in half the time with a clever technique for infusing flavor with a funny, almost phallic device that resembles The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.
It was intriguing enough to click, and from that moment on, I found myself watching a well-made video with high-end graphics and a promise to send me one of the first models made .
So I clicked ‘BUY’ with confidence (thanks, beer!) and was very happy until I completed my purchase and was told that my funds had been sent to a Chinese company whose name was written in letters Chinese.
DOH!
Immediately, I knew everything was wrong, so I jumped on my computer and looked up the product name, which was, in fact, the exact name of the item they seemed to have ripped off.
Sure enough, I saw their recently funded Kickstarter with all the elements scrubbed and reused by the bogus site, so I immediately contacted them to buy the real deals while raising a claim on the system of payment.
I lost $40 in total and will be receiving a completely different item or a bad fake soon. Hopefully, though, I’ll also get what I want from the people who made it and were alerted to the rip-offs already being sold after their crowdfunding campaign.
I don’t have much hope of getting my funds back, but now I’m secretly hoping they send me a rip-off.
Although, since it is supposed to be put in a hot oven (inside a chicken), the chances of me making it are zero.
I’ll happily report back with a side-by-side comparison if I receive the real McCoy.
Anyone Can Get It
Seriously, it’s not just an excuse.
No, really!
We can’t be vigilant every second of every day, and when beer, wine, or whiskey is a factor, our judgment can easily be swayed.
That said, allow me a few words in my defense: the name of the online casino consists of two English words together, so the specific tip-off does not exist, and clicking through the site showed a professional presentation in perfect English. Therefore, there is no ‘bad English’ tip-off either.
The real lesson (for me) is never buy anything advertised on any social media site because these platforms allow so many bogus ads to enter their users and offer little until there is no protection before or after people fall for these scams.
Of course, I made this exact resolution over a year ago when I received my comedy cargo shorts, but somehow I completely forgot about it in the cold light of my phone and the wee hours of the morning.
Conclusion
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