A young man from Corrientes was swindled out of more than $350,000 in the sale of a video card when the buyer returned the package with two bottles of water to replace the technological artifact. The recognized most important sales platform in the country did not take responsibility for the deception.
Mauricio Vallejos told ellitoral.com.ar that the event happened in March of last year and is still battling in legal instances with the renowned company Mercado Libre.
The young man, who lives in the capital of Corrientes, had published the product and a person from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires made the purchase. The scammer informed Mercado Libre that the product had arrived in good condition, but five days later he requested to cancel the operation and return the RTX 3070 video card, valued at more than $350,000.
“I spoke to Whatsapp to ask him what had happened, he told me that he had a family medical problem, but it sounded like a story to me,” explained Mauricio, who explained that he contacted Mercado Libre immediately, to make sure that the product was covered in case of problems with the return.
“They told me that everything was covered and that the money was going to be in my account until I notified that everything was fine, but as soon as the post office reported that the package was delivered, they took the money from me,” lamented the young man from Corrientes.
As he had his doubts, Mauricio asked a neighbor to record him while he opened the fully sealed package. At the end, he found himself with two bottles of water to replace the expensive computer component, which served to simulate the weight of the video card.
Later, the young man contacted Mercado Libre and attached the evidence, but the company led by Marcos Galperín decided not to take responsibility for the scam committed through its platform.
Muricio had to resort to the Prior Conciliation Service in Consumer Relations (Coprec) for Consumer Protection. The entity ordered a mediation instance, in which representatives of Mercado Libre, Mauricio and his lawyer, Francisco Mantilla, appeared.
After that, the company indicated that “they would review the case”, but in a second instance “they sent a girl to say no, that it was a lot of money and they might not solve it”.
“Basically they told me to fuck you,” lamented the young man from Corrientes and explained that, together with his lawyer, they are filing the lawsuit.
