[U.m.b.r.e.o.n.]

Well, I didn't think this would actually work but it does, The only downside is you sort of need a crappy Pc or a videocard laying around to make this work.

The method is, I was upgrading my step-brothers computer for him for christmas and I went to best buy to purchase a new Videocard for him, and I just got a bland GeForce 960 which was black, literally basic so nothing they could compare with color scheme wise.

I took it home and on a hunch I took his 2 year old videocard and put it back in the box I obtained from Best Buy when I purchased the GeForce and I took it back to the store and said;
"I recently purchased this for my friend/room-mate/brother and he said it has the wrong 4-6 PlN adapter thing or something in it(make it seem like you don't know much about the product other than it's a part for a computer) and say you just want to return it. Make sure you have the receipt of you buying it and ta-da. You have the new graphicscard a long with the money back from ur old purchase, The only down side is that you will lose your old videocard but, If you're going to be upgrading an old computer or you have a spare videocard laying around this method is great for turning them into a 150-200$ profit.

I have tried this method at other Best Buy's too and this scam seems to work on the premise of the people doing returns have no affiliation with the GeekSquad people so to their knowledge they're just returning an item, thus they do not check the items inside the box.

On one occasion I had one of the geek squad people say the wrong videocard was in the box, and I said That my roomie must of put the wrong one inside and I was sorry and that I would return momentarily with the original one, and then I just never came back to that particular store location.

Hope this helps some of you guys make an easy profit~
Happy late new years.

[U.m.b.r.e.o.n.]

Yes this is technically stealing, but I figured in the sense of you manipulating the return policy by forging the item inside the box it's could be considered SE'ing to some people, ya'know?

[U.m.b.r.e.o.n.]

I just said I believe SE is stealing. There is no difference.

Some people rationalize SE'ing as manipulating rather than actual stealing.

Stealing is usually means ur taking someone else's thing, but in this case ur manipulating someone else into giving you that thing.

I didn't mean you were wrong.

[Megan]

If you do this, please do not pay for the original product via card, use only cash as it is fraud.

Also it's not crappy at all, if it was to a person fair enough but to a company like Best buy it's not so much drama.

[mothered]

I hope you didn't purchase the VC via EFTPOS or Credit Card. If so, your transaction can be Identified back to you.

Always use cash when performing acts of this nature.

[Bish0pQ]

I hope you didn't purchase the VC via EFTPOS or Credit Card. If so, your transaction can be Identified back to you.

Always use cash when performing acts of this nature.

Not only paying with cash, how about camera's in the store? People that can Identify you?
There are almost unlimited ways to identify a person and companies that lose 300$ because of a video card will probably want to take action so they can prevent that anyone will do it in the future. So I guess they will try to identify this person.

On topic now,
I personally think that this can work, but you have to be very careful because cops won't see this as SE but they will directly see this as theft or fraud, but I don't say it doesn't work.

[meow]

Cops believe SE is theft, so it doesn't matter which they think it is.

Citation on that statement please? Not really sure where you got that from. Social engineering doesn't always mean tricking companies/people into giving you shit.

[meow]

It's my opinion. You always see the negetive in everything. You're stealing from innocent people, and that's fucked.

It's your opinion that cops see SE as theft... what? All I asked for was citation. What was negative about that?

And once again, social engineering doesn't always mean tricking companies/people into giving you things. If anything, you're the one who sees the "negetive" in everything.

[Nil]

Social engineering in the context of what is almost only discussed on forums as is usually illegal. Of course, social engineering by itself isn't illegal, but let's not pretend people on tech forums are actually ever sharing human manipulation information that doesn't involve stealing.

[mothered]

Not only paying with cash, how about camera's in the store? People that can Identify you?
There are almost unlimited ways to identify a person and companies that lose 300$ because of a video card will probably want to take action so they can prevent that anyone will do it in the future. So I guess they will try to identify this person.

Yeah I know, I just mentioned the obvious and kept It simple.

The purchase of the old video card, can also be Identified to It's owner via It's (for example) serial number If purchased with a Credit Card.