I will be giving a talk on scam electronics, ie totally bogus devices sold to the public. I have full details of a couple of such devices but would like to know of a few others - particularly any giveaways or signatures to them being scams , without having to open the boxes. Pointers etc to some scam products would be appreciated - or www site specializing in exposing them. Adverts appearing in the respectable press, for such items ,is no guarantee of genuinness .
I'm not sure what you mean by "scam", other than fraudulent medical devices, or the E-meter.
Bose's claim that the Wave radio produces "natural, room-filling sound" is a bald-faced lie, so I'd consider the product a scam. Does that fall into your category as scamming?
That the sort of thing I was interested in rather than "faith" type scams , it would be just my luck there would be a scientologist in the audience.
One of the scams that keeps resurfacing is this from 1994, when you crack open the box there is in effect nothing inside, p40 and 43 of
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f These scams work by the price they can set so purchasers cannot be bothered sending back for a refund if not "satisfied with the product"
Of course with electronic smog around these days it would be possible to grab energy from the ether and do some sort of short duration low energy something
I`m sure you have heard about the electronic devices which fit around your water pipes and claim to reduce limescale build up, and the miracle petrol saver which simply clips to your fuel lines and saves you big bucks by somehow energising the petrol.
Did you know that a great many beer cellars use a device which claims to reduce the need for weekly line cleaning?
"By slowing the deposits of yeast, beer stone and other residue in beer lines, cleaning intervals are extended to at least four weeks"
"it works by generating a pseudo random spread of low frequency RF using a microprocessor, this signal is transmitted as an electrical signal to a transducer placed around the outside of the beer line keg. The electromagnetic field of varying frequency, which this arrangement creates around the beer line, is what delivers the results."
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Is it a scam? I don't know, I`ve spoken with people in the trade, and those who use the system say it works. They say beer line cleaning is one of the major expenses of running a bar, and reducing the frequency of line cleaning saves an awful lot of money which far outweighs the cost of renting the device.
This goes back a very long way. In the early days of "wireless", there were devices claiming to improve reception when plugged into your aerial (antenna) socket, or even replace an outside long wire aerial. All they had inside was a capacitor. I think I have one somewhere.
I came across this guy on Ebay some time back, he's hawking this device on Ebay Indonesia now
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If the link doesn't work, search Ebay 250715961148
If you check out his earlier feedback some have rumbled this is crap, others seem well taken in, or didn't want to admit to paying a large sum for a box of junk.
Any input on this aspect from around the world? In the UK the consumer protection people, Trading Standards here, are not pro-active, what about other countries? They are perfectly happy for such scams to continue for years and will only act when someone complains to them, then a double complaint because they do not get a refund going down that route .
No, not Venkman, can't remember his name though, he lists some scopes that probably arn't worth a tenth of what he asks and has another Ebay name "Uncle Deal" or similar. Same crap. JC
Big market in the supply of power factor correction devices to consumers who due to bill measuring method (kWh instead of kVA) won't see much difference in their electric bills. Some are proper kit sold in the wrong market, others are bogus.
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