iPod or Meat

Status: An unusual way of concealing a crime
image A Hawaiian news station has reported the touching tale of a boy who received a video iPod for Christmas. At least, he received the video iPod box. When he opened the box he found, to his disappointment, only a piece of meat inside of it. His mother, who bought the gift for him at Wal-Mart, where she works, had no idea how the meat could have gotten inside the box, and she's asking the store to give her an iPod instead of the meat. There are two possibilities here. Either the mother is pulling some kind of scam, or a prankster thief got to the iPod while it was in the store and replaced it with a piece of meat. Gizmodo reports hearing from an insider source that claims the latter to be the case (an unknown prankster thief was at work). According to this anonymous source, Wal-Mart investigators have found two other units with meat in them, and an ex-employee is suspected of the tampering. But since Gizmodo's source is unnamed, it's not fully credible.

Food Technology

Posted on Fri Dec 30, 2005



Comments

shouldn't it stink?
Posted by Tom  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  01:12 AM
Was is Spam?
Posted by Craig  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  01:38 AM
An "unknown prankster" took iPods and replaced them with meat? Doesn't sound like a prank to me. Sounds like pure theft, and the meat was meant to disguise the weight of the iPod that was stolen. They are extremely valuable as stolen items on the black market. If it were a prank, the prankster would reveal himself and replace the property.
Posted by Harvard Irving  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  06:37 AM
Damnit, I need to start posting these things when I first see them.

But yeah, it's theft, not a prank. At least, I would be surprised if Walmart viewed it as anything else, especially as the products were sold and this hit the news. Somebody sold them on eBay, probably.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  08:01 AM
Yeah, it was theft, but inserting the meat in the box indicates to me a certain element of mischief which makes it like a prank. After all, adding the meat to make the box heavier doesn't really help the thief in any way. If the thief had simply left the box empty, Wal-Mart might have assumed Apple sent an empty box by mistake. But now Wal-Mart knows someone tampered with it, and that it was probably an inside job. So adding the meat hasn't helped them get away with the crime. In fact, it's given investigators a significant clue to work with.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  09:46 AM
But having given it some more thought, I changed it to a theft, not a prank. Though I still think putting meat in the box was an unnecessary bit of mischief on the part of the thief.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  10:19 AM
Like some people have suggested, I think it's a little bit of theft with pranking thrown in as well. But seriously, the person didn't just stuff meat in to make it weigh the same; there's easily better things they could have put in just the same to get away with it. They wanted it to be opened. They may have wanted the iPod, but I think they also planned it to be a big upset for whoever opened it, especially if they did put it in more than one box.
Posted by Archibold  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  12:16 PM
Yep, that one's been reported out here quite a bit. The meat was smooshed into the box and is very likely spam. 😊 Or another brand.. all canned mystery meats do well out here.

I vote theft too, though with a weird sense of humor involved.
Posted by Steph  on  Fri Dec 30, 2005  at  04:16 PM
I have to agree on the theft. A prank would be *wrapping* the I-pod in meat, then replacing it in the box..

Mmm.. MP3s and honey glazed ham....
Posted by Robin Bobcat  on  Sat Dec 31, 2005  at  02:52 AM
Baby Got Back bacon?
Posted by Steph in Hawaii  on  Sat Dec 31, 2005  at  03:18 AM
iMeat tastes bad after being iAged too long.
Posted by Craig  on  Sun Jan 01, 2006  at  12:51 PM
Buyer beware!

I have just read a news article about a woman in St. Johns Nfld who bid on what she thought was an Apple Ipod on E-bay. It turns out that what she actually bid on was THE BOX! 300.00 she paid for an EMPTY BOX! I was curious about it & went to the E-bay site. There are others who are pulling this scam too! I seems to be the latest & greatest scam, selling empty boxes on E-bay. How unscrupulous! I figure if it is happening with Ipod, it must be happening with other popular items as well. The guy that sold this woman her box, said she never read the fine print. I suppose that must be true. When I went to E-bay, (the seller listed here is in India though) sure enough, it says:

APPLE IPOD SHUFFLE 512Mb BRAND NEW BOX PACKED

It does not state WHAT the box is packed with, but it does say that it is a brand new box. Buyer beware, eh??? There must be some kind of recourse for this. I would think that E-bay is under fire over it. It seems to me that they should be screening those who post items to be sure that they are not selling empty boxes. If you follow the link below, it shows a lovely picture of the Ipod box. Nowhere does it actually say that the box includes an actual Ipod... Grrrrr... this kind of thing makes my blood boil! (here's the link to the picture of the nice box)

http://cgi.ebay.in/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5852740895&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT

I am also suspicious of the story that this person has here (see link below) He claims that he'd like to give someone an Ipod as a gift, but when he bought it was used & it never came with a box, so if someone could supply him with an empty box he would appreciate it. He claims that although he's giving it as a gift he will let the receiver know that it is used. If this is the case, why trouble yourself to get a real box, just put it in an appropriate sized box & give it! I would bet my life this fellow has posted elsewhere & this is what he does. My guess is that he collects empty Ipod boxes & sells them empty on E-bay??? I might seem a little paranoid, but after reading about the woman buying the empty box, & actually SEEING a picture of the box, it makes me wonder if this guys motives are really honest...

http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?t=34770
Posted by Deana  on  Thu Jan 12, 2006  at  11:38 AM
There was supposedly a similar rash of people attempting to sell photos of the X-Box 360 prior to Christmas.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Thu Jan 12, 2006  at  12:43 PM
Reminds me of this humorous take on a similar walmart related switched product.

http://www.tomsphotos.com/router/
Posted by King of Sandusky  on  Sat Feb 04, 2006  at  09:27 PM
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