Walmart customer realizes he fell victim to return fraud after buying oil filter from its store

Walmart customers have been active on social media for a while, where they regularly call out quality issues and false advertising. One such shopper got to learn about 'return fraud' in one of the worst possible ways. Shopper, TikTok creator, Dan2fs2ns (@sharpintx) shared a video showing how he got scammed while buying an oil filter for his Toyota from the store's automotive section. In his video, he showed that some customers had swapped the real cartridge filter from the brand for a cheap SuperTech knock-off, probably to commit fraud and make a profit. This left the creator in trouble, as his routine oil change turned into making multiple trips to the store.

"This just happened to me. It's really bad luck," the creator said at the beginning of his video. He then turned the camera to the box of the oil filter, explaining that he was suspicious when he picked up the box, as it felt heavier than usual and too solid for a Toyota cartridge filter. He then opened the box and told the viewers that someone had swapped the Toyota cartridge filter for a SuperTech cannister filter. "Someone paid way less and stole the Toyota filter," he said.

He then flipped the box to show that the SuperTech filter was deliberately put in the original Toyota-branded box to make it look like they were returning the original element filter. While the scammer executed the fraud well, it caused a problem for the honest shoppers, like the creator. "But I get home and have these garbage filters in here that don't fit my car," Dan2fs2ns said. "It's just so annoying," he added in the end. 

Turns out, the creator was a victim of return fraud, which has been bothering retailers for a long time. This involves dishonest customers buying expensive items, replacing the contents with look-alikes or cheap knock-offs, and returning them to the store, often for a full refund. Viewers of the video suggested that it was a common fraud, and there had been several such cases of theft. "Found a Fram in my Mobil 1 filter box, 19$ price difference," a user, @Fishrips, commented on the creator's video. 

Several others suggested that it was happening with all products in Walmart's automotive section. "This happened to me several years ago. Got home, and it was a filter that didn't even fit my vehicle. I open the box and check every time now before I go to checkout," @BrandonEmery shared. "Can’t tell ya how many times as a tech that I went in to get a set of wiper blades to put on a vehicle in our bay, get to the display, find the size, & go to pick them up &…old wiper blades in the box…customer service doesn’t look at the returns. IE, someone bought new, switched out with old, brought them back in to get their money back," another user, @MagnusDikus, added.

Meanwhile, a shopper shared that they had to bite the bullet and absorb the cost as they had no way to convince the store that they were scammed. "I'll do one better, I was changing my oil and went to put the new Mobile 1 synthetic oil in, and it was used oil. I'm assuming someone returned their old oil with the receipt for a full refund, and I felt like I couldn't return it because they would think I'm the scammer," wrote @tonyhimelright.

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