Future Shop and Best Buy Canada customers open up their Apple iPad 2 box to find a slab of clay

You go to a Future Shop or Best Buy location in Vancouver, Canada looking to buy the Apple iPad 2. You put down your money, receive what appears to be a sealed box, and take it home. With your heart pumping, you feel the excitement of the moment as you open the box to reveal your brand new...slab of clay. This story was repeated about ten times in the Canadian city. Both Future Shop and Best Buy are conducting full-scale investigations. Future Shop spokesman Elliott Chun said, "It really saddens Future Shop to know that people stoop to this type of level to be opportunistic and make money in this sort of organized way… Customers don’t expect to receive this kind of product from Future Shop, so it’s a very serious matter and something we are addressing right away for anyone who has been impacted."

So how can this happen? It is a simple process. Someone buys an Apple iPad 2 from one of the two stores, takes out the tablet and puts in a clay slab with a similar weight. He seals the box and returns it to the store, getting back his original investment in the scheme. The box is put back on the shelf, waiting for an unsuspecting buyer. The scam apparently started earlier this month and it makes us wonder about the return policy at those stores.

Here's how the fraud played out for one couple. Mark Sandhu paid $620 for what he thought was the Apple iPad 2. Sandhu was buying the tablet as a Christmas present for his wife. When they opened the box on Christmas Eve, Mark's wife Sundee originally thought that the clay, which was flattened into the shape of a tablet and put inside a ziploc bag, was a protective layer. Mr. Sandhu said, "My wife was excited when she saw this, [saying] ‘oh my God they take care of their stuff,' and then we saw this …and that kind of threw us off a little," adding that there was also a clay cube where the charger should be in the box. He added, "I was shocked. I did not expect this from Future Shop. When you purchase something from there you expect the product to be there."

The worst part of the story took place when Mr. Sandhu brought the clay slab and the package back to the Future Shop and said he was treated like a criminal by the female manager. He contacted the retailer's management, Apple and the police but no one seemed to take an interest until he contacted CTV. Future Shop then got involved in the case and realized that it happened ten times in the metro Vancouver area at Future Shop and Best Buy locations.

While the Sandhu family got their money back and got a Apple iPad 2 for free, Mr. Sandhu said that he will never make another purchase at a Future Shop again.

source: CTV via MobileSyrup