Console Scalpers Are Reportedly Being Robbed By Fake Buyers

The PlayStation 5 is out now in America and just one day from releasing in the UK, but it hasn't been easy for people to get their hands on one. Limited stock and messy pre-orders window have been further compounded by attempting to launch the next-gen console in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, something a number of opportunistic scalpers have taken advantage of.

These warm-hearted chums of humanity are hardly the most popular folk in the world right now. After multiple reports of PS5 and Xbox Series X scalpers charging hundreds - sometimes thousands - more for the next-gen consoles, the gaming community has widely condemned them for being selfish buttheads. To be clear, my use of the word "butthead" is putting it mildly but I'm not really allowed to swear on this website.

In an unexpected turn of events, it now seems as if certain scalpers are actually being robbed of their next-gen consoles. As reported by The Gamer, police in Toronto, Canada have issued a warning that "numerous reports of robberies" have been received by the department from people "selling game systems online".

While the police don't specifically mention which consoles are being robbed, it's unlikely to be anything else right now. I can't imagine people are meeting up to sell on Xbox One and PS4 consoles.

As you can probably imagine, the replies to the above tweet are hardly dripping with sympathy. Many have pointed out that being robbed after trying to scalp someone is karma, and that these people are getting what they deserve.

While I'm unlikely to shed a tear or lose sleep over this people being robbed anytime soon, I'm not sure it's what they "deserve". There's no doubt in my mind that buying up consoles and selling them at an inflated price - especially with Christmas coming up - is scummy AF. With that said, many of these people have been violently robbed after being lured to a false sale.

Unless the people behind the robberies are donating the scalped consoles to children's hospitals (which I doubt), this is literally just criminals robbing arseholes. Nobody really wins, do they?

Topics: PlayStation 5, GAMING, News, Xbox Series X, Microsoft