There are many ways to get scammed online, but Georgia man Sylvester Franklin couldn’t believe the bizarre scam he experienced from his order. Franklin bought a drill set from a website called AliExpress back in November but instead received a printed photo of the item he had purchased. On top of that, the Georgian shopper had ordered another item as well, a pressure washer. However, he received the tip of a screwdriver in its stead.
“This is not good. This is real bad. All this is bad, you know what I mean? Don’t scam nobody. I don’t like to get scammed, because you spend your money, you want to get what you paid for,” Franklin tells WRDW-TV. He claims to have spent around $40 for the items he purchased from AliExpress; needless to say, a drill and pressure washer for that cost is indeed suspicious. Since his order arrived, Franklin has been trying to get a refund for the seller’s scam, but unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to get his money back.
That said, commenters on the Georgia man’s story are having a grand old time making puns about the situation. “Who could’ve pictured this story?” says a user on CBS Chicago’s YouTube video of the incident. “He really got drilled on this one,” chimes in another. “Can you just picture that?” remarks a third. “Drill baby drill,” jokes another, referring to the Republican campaign slogan from 2008 that Donald Trump used during his 2024 presidential campaign.
A Good Lesson For Suspicious Deals at Low Prices
Naturally, people will likely slam AliExpress for this poor buyer’s mishap with his purchased items. As it is owned by Alibaba, a massive e-commerce and retailer company based in China, many will be quick to say that AliExpress is nothing more than a scam itself. Of course, this is far from the truth, seeing how many people around the globe use the website regularly with successful orders. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t malicious sellers on the site looking to cheat naive shoppers from other countries.
For instance, a user questioned AliExpress’ legitimacy on the r/Aliexpress subreddit based on their poor experience with the site. Several people were quick to correct the user, explaining how the China-based marketplace is legit, but one should “practice some due diligence & not buy (what will soon be) obvious scams.”
It’s “the same sense that eBay could be called a scam” if one is purchasing from unreliable and suspicious buyers, that is. That being said, it’s best never to buy an item on any website if it appears too good to be true. Otherwise, your fate might be like that of the poor Georgia man who got a picture instead of his order.
