Suspicious Cheap 'scopes spotted on Amazon

[Caliaxy]

Just to finish my story: after deciding that I don’t actually need a cheap DSO, it occurred to me that I could actually use a cheap MSO (I had a Saleae logic analyzer on my wishlist anyways), so I ordered the unbranded MSO5202D from the seller Rosvola on Amazon. I got the same delivery estimate 4-26 December, but it arrived on Friday evening, shipped from within US. As the other poster, I also got a what seems to be a legit Hantek MSO5202D in original box with all accessories (including a registration card). It looks and seems to work fine. I don't have any other Hantek product to compare, though. For what is worth, the plastic looks OK too – as cheap-feeling as the one on my 10x+ more expensive Keysight DSO.

One awkward thing I noticed though is that the protective film on the LCD (the one placed by the LCD manufacturer, not by Hantek) was not removed before assembly, so the little red tab you are supposed to pull to remove the protective film off the screen is mostly under the bezel, hard to reach and impossible to pull. To remove the film, one would have to dismantle the oscilloscope. Not sure this is a Hantek thing, most likely whoever assembled it forgot to remove the film.

[Nominal Animal]

I've been trying to keep quiet, but I can't any longer.  In Finnish, Rosvola means Robberton, the place where the robbers are.

[jsantoro]

Got mine today. Looks like sealed factory Hantek box.

[edavid]

Received my Micsig TO-1152 from "Rosvola" today (shipped from a warehouse in Chino, CA).  Now I'm wondering if it was such a great deal, since I actually got it 

I did get a China Post tracking number for another Rosvola order that I placed yesterday.

[DRL]

Curious...  My cheap Hantek $99 oscope from vendor "Nannaday" was also delivered from a warehouse in Chino, CA.

[Kosmic]

They often ship in bulk to another country and then use the local postal service to reach the final destination. In Canada it's a particularly efficient tactic since the bulk (container ?) cross the customs way faster than an individual package.

On the same note, my cancelled Hantek scope is stuck at customs. I wonder if it's a fake tracking number or if they shipped and then refunded

[cliffyk]

Here's what USPS and https://www.packages24.com/ (a great site recommended by our forum brother JdubU) have to say about the supposed routing of my $18.49 Naroote JDS 3022E (Obviously China Post is going to hand it [or whatever "it" is] off to USPS):

USPS:


packages24.com:

[Kosmic]

Like I said elsewhere, more info on 17track.net 

This is your package

[Kosmic]

They often ship in bulk to another country and then use the local postal service to reach the final destination. In Canada it's a particularly efficient tactic since the bulk (container ?) cross the customs way faster than an individual package.

On the same note, my cancelled Hantek scope is stuck at customs. I wonder if it's a fake tracking number or if they shipped and then refunded

So the tracking number they gave me was fake. The package I was following was delivered today in the same city, but it's not here.

Good thing they already refunded me 

[PA0PBZ]

Looks like you guys should read this thread (and watch the YT): https://www.eevblog.com/forum/dodgy-technology/confessions-of-a-nespresso-money-mule/

[Kosmic]

Looks like you guys should read this thread (and watch the YT): https://www.eevblog.com/forum/dodgy-technology/confessions-of-a-nespresso-money-mule/

Make sense, so the warehouse doing the dropshipping could be frauded by the store front listing on amazon.

[OtakuN3rd]

Wow... what an discussion!  I failed to turn on email notifications of replies to the post and had almost forgotten about it in my busyness.

Anyway,  I did not take the $100 gamble and noticed that the listings are no longer on Amazon, and that the price of the real Hantek scope has jumped to $220 USD.  IIRC, it was around $195 USD when the suspicious listings were active.

I never thought about the draw interest and then refund angle of a scam.  Quite interesting!

[JDubU]

Kosmic:

Is there a way to get the final delivery address from the tracking number?

[Kosmic]

Kosmic:

Is there a way to get the final delivery address from the tracking number?

I don't think so. I could call canada post but the address related to a tracking number is probably confidential.

[edavid]

Looks like you guys should read this thread (and watch the YT): https://www.eevblog.com/forum/dodgy-technology/confessions-of-a-nespresso-money-mule/

I don't see the relevance - how could Amazon sellers in China make that work?

I never thought about the draw interest and then refund angle of a scam.  Quite interesting!

Kind of a ridiculous idea when interest rates are under 2%/year, and credit card fees alone are around 3%, not to mention Amazon's various seller fees.

[OtakuN3rd]

Kosmic:

Is there a way to get the final delivery address from the tracking number?

You can try going to your local post office with the tracking number and proof that that number is for something you ordered.  I had to do so once when I got scammed by ordering a pair of Baofeng handheld radios off of eBay.

The post office (in this case, USPS) gave me the address it was sent to, but blamed me for giving the seller the wrong address (kinda hard to do when my correct address is the only one saved to my eBay account).  I got lucky and found that the package was delivered to a neighbor a block away from me.  It had his address on it, so the post office delivered it to the house that was on the package, but nobody knows the name of the person that was on the address label.  Of course, the package didn't contain the radios I ordered, but a pair of Lego bricks.

I learned that it may not be the best thing to open a dispute once you find you are given a fake tracking number until after the estimated delivery date.  In my case, the dispute was opened about a week after the order was submitted.  During that week, there was no indication that the postal carrier had received an item at all.  Within hours of me opening a dispute the seller turned in a package to the shipper that went from China to the US in less than two weeks.