He ordered an iPhone 16 through AliExpress, and what he received from China was a unique, even iconic product.

Buy iPhone 16 Pro Max online at virtually half the price of Apple This is at least suspicious. Especially when the device hasn’t even been unveiled yet. Our main character, YouTuber Victor Caballero, should have known about this, but, despite everything, he decided to go for it.

This is not the first time that a YouTuber has decided to buy a mobile phone of dubious origin. In fact, much of its content is based on uncovering scams like the one that was about to happen with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. However, regarding this I finally found a gem which was at least interesting.

If it smells like a scam, it’s because it’s a scam.

We have to take a time machine, but not very far, but in the month of June. Of these, there were still three months left before the official introduction to the new iPhone 16. Due to the fact that they were already in production, we had a lot of leaks indicating what they would be, but they were by no means on sale. In fact, with very few exceptions, this never happens.

The fact is that Victor Caballero found a good deal on AliExpress. unpublished iPhone 16 Pro Max is on sale for ‘only’ $1,107.41. There was even a discount on this. In the specifications, among other things, a 6.8-inch screen stood out, while there were already rumors that this model would have a 6.9-inch one.

In the end, everything was obvious, and it did not take Sherlock Holmes to discover that this was a fraud. Luckily for the YouTuber, he was already expecting this and it was actually his goal to show it. The trouble is that it is likely that some misguided person fell into the trap and ended up getting what Caballero ended up getting. Although we already told you that it wasn’t so bad in the end.

The hunt for Chinese scammers brings a big surprise

A few days after the purchase, Caballero received a package that was supposed to contain the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which he bought several months before Apple put it up for sale. Already Even before opening the box everything looked terrible.. It sounded very empty and, unlike the packaging Apple uses, it was difficult to open.

The surprise came when he pulled out what was supposed to be an iPhone 16 Pro Max box from a large box. Actually it was a very small box in which not a single iPhone 16 Pro Max came out. It belonged to another mobile phone. It is not known which one, but it is certainly not the one Caballero bought a few weeks ago on AliExpress.

Opening it, he found what he himself called “iPhone 16 mini”. It was a terminal that was very far in size not only from the promised 6.8 inches, but also from what a standard iPhone would be. It was similar to the famous Palm mobile phones and exactly fit in the palm of your hand.

For design purposes, keeping these obvious distances in terms of size and thickness (this option was much more thick), this mini mobile phone had it all. A module with three cameras on the back, an unlock button, volume buttons, a SIM card tray, a USB-C port… It didn’t look like the mockup.

Works!

What these scammers expect is that we will end up getting nothing or that we will get a simple model or a real mobile phone as an imitation iPhone, although far from the original in terms of features and build quality. In this case, it didn’t look much like an iPhone, but it worked.

Turning it on, he could see what it looked like. small full-featured Android mobile phone. It had an old operating system, but it worked correctly. In fact, Caballero emphasized that the performance is “very acceptable for the size of the device.” It wasn’t slow at all and I was able to load apps like WhatsApp or FaceBook without any problems.

Yes indeed not everything was perfect. For example, although at first glance it appeared to have three cameras, it actually only had one. Of course, with good enough quality, or at least that’s what it seemed like when seeing it on that small LCD panel, the dimensions of which would not exceed 3.5 inches. Additionally, the keyboard became awkward and typing to send messages became tedious.

At the end of the day it’s still a scam

The conclusion from all this is that this terminal could be very interesting for a minimalist audience who does not mind giving up the functions of modern smartphones and gives priority to the comfort of such a mobile phone. However, it should be noted that we were faced not with the disassembly of a compact device, but with fraud.

No matter how interesting the end result was, that doesn’t mean that’s what happened in the end. dance scam paying thousands of dollars for a product that is nothing like what they promised. The YouTuber felt this and wanted to release an interesting video, but for many this could become a problem.

For many years now, the Internet has been a good place to shop with confidence, but also a place where scammers do their thing. In the case of AliExpress, we can also find genuine and quality products, but since it is an approval portal for third-party sellers, this type of scam is also abound. Therefore, it is important before any purchase to always check with the place where you are buying it. Especially if, as in this case, a device like the iPhone already costs a lot of money.

Images | Victor Caballero

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