Have you noticed that nothing radically new has happened on the smartphone market for a long time? New ones iPhone are no longer so pleasing even for fans of the brand, and each new version Android is forgotten even faster than the previous one. Even foldable smartphones, which made a fuss precisely because of their unpreparedness for release, quickly ceased to interest anyone. After all, no matter how unusual they are, the high price, coupled with low reliability, clearly do not play into their hands and do not increase their attractiveness in the eyes of users. But Roberto Escobar, brother of drug lord Pablo Exobar, decided that he could fix everything.
Pablo Escobar's brother began to produce foldable smartphones and sell them 3-5 times cheaper than the market. What is this if not fraud?
At the end of last year, Escobar declared war on smartphone manufacturers and introduced his first foldable smartphone, which he christened Pablo Escobar Fold 1 in memory of his brother. Quite quickly, however, it became clear that this was not a new smartphone, but the Royole FlexPai, presented in October 2018 of the year. Escobar's company took the original device, repainted it and put the brand's logo on the case. Everything would be fine, but Escobar Inc. set a price tag for it at $ 349 versus $ 1,320 for which Royole offered to buy its product. Then, however, no one paid attention to this, because the smartphone itself, despite the affordable price, was frankly unattractive.
What is Escobar Fold
However, that all changed when Escobar Inc. presented its second smartphone, which was played by the Galaxy Fold. Its launch was explained by the fact that the second generation of the folding device is more perfect, and therefore everyone who placed an order for the first generation model will receive a free upgrade, despite the fact that the new product has become more expensive – it was estimated at $ 399. That said, it's still less than $ 1,980 for the original Galaxy Fold. Therefore, many are interested in how anyone can sell a product five times cheaper than its real cost?
Apparently Escobar Inc. takes original smartphones, re-sticks brands and sells them cheaper according to the pyramid model
The legend that Escobar Inc. just buys illiquid goods from retailers, which the company flaunt at the start, quickly faded away. Well, the consumer didn't believe it, and that's it. Therefore, at about the same time, a new legend emerged that the company buys the components used to produce the Galaxy Fold, and then assembles them at its factories. According to the management of Escobar Inc., it is very cheap. And since the company does not aim to extract super profits, it sells such devices cheaper than competitors.
Why Escobar Folds are so cheap
For my taste, the first and the second legends sound rather dubious. Even if we assume that Pablo Escobar's brother decided to do charity work, it is impossible to believe that Samsung allowed the sale of, in fact, unique components to the side. After all, the folding display, which forms the basis of the Galaxy Fold, is developed and produced by itself, which means that there are no dishonest suppliers from China with whom one could negotiate either. Then, without further ado, I just went to the Escobar Inc. website, added Pablo Escobar Fold 2 to the cart and tried to place an order. It's a pity that it didn't work out.
As it turned out, in the online store Escobar Inc. there is no payment system at all through which a payment could be made. There is not only the ability to pay for the purchase through PayPal, which would return the payment in case of anything, but even the MasterPass or Visa Checkout buttons. That is, you cannot use a payment card, not to mention safer payment methods, and the only option to pay for your purchase is to transfer money to a bank account when placing an order. So-so perspective, to be honest. Indeed, in this case, you are transferring money as an individual to an individual, which, in fact, deprives you of the right to request the bank to cancel the transaction.
Despite the fact that it became clear to me at the previous stage that this was a banal fraud, flavored with an unimaginably stupid legend, I began to dig further. However, it did not take long to dig. I opened the section of the site dedicated to the description of the company and found out that a legal entity such as Escobar Inc. does not exist, and all actions are performed on behalf of Affideer AB, registered in Sweden. It would seem, what is it? After all, Apple is registered in Ireland. But the fact is that the staff of the Swedish company consists of only two people, and its annual turnover is about 250 euros, which seems to be hinting.
Escobar Fold 2 – cheating?
Nevertheless, on YouTube and on Reddit, there were still several people who allegedly received their smartphones from Escobar Inc. Among them were even well-known millionaire bloggers who, logically, have no reason to deceive their audience, risking their own reputation. But, on the other hand, it could just be an advertising story, in which the observer was asked to tell about the device for money. After all, a blogger should not be involved in checking legal entities and the activities of a company that offers cooperation, right? But even if one of the buyers really received their Escobar Fold 2, I have no doubts that this is actually a banal pyramid.
Indeed, Escobar Inc. – this is nothing more than a pyramid, when the last participants, in fact, pay for the purchases of the first. In such situations, it is possible that one of the applicants actually received the device. But this is nothing more than a lure for everyone else. After all, if someone got a smartphone for a quarter of the price, surely many more will want to do the same trick. But, unfortunately, no one knows at what point the wheel of fortune will stop, and those who paid for the device will not begin to extract profit from the pyramid, but will make up for the losses incurred by Escobar Inc., if any.