Another buyer says same seller sold him fake AirPods, Carousell suspends account
A second Carousell buyer has come forward saying he was duped into buying a fake pair of AirPods Pro Gen 3 for $260 by the same seller in a recent Stomp article.
Stomper Anonymous said he was searching Carousell for AirPods 3 as a gift for his girlfriend, and found a listing by user 'nugget1616' offering the set for $260, which he thought was "a good steal".
Anonymous asked the seller about the warranty, and he was told that there were nine months left.
"I thought that was the reason why it was listed slightly cheaper than others," he said.
"I also checked if it was sealed with the original packaging, 2025, local set, and he said yes."
The Stomper then arranged a meetup at Bukit Batok to deal.
"I feel that a person who's willing to meet up for a face-to-face deal shouldn't be selling counterfeit items," Anonymous shared.
"Upon receiving the item, the first thing I did was check the Apple website for warranty, and it was valid. After ensuring that it was legit, I proceeded with a PayNow transfer.
"I had difficulties opening the box, which I found weird, but I didn't think much of it until I saw the article on Stomp."
After reading the article, Anonymous followed the same steps the previous victim had used to verify authenticity. He discovered that the Find My app showed only the left and right AirPods' locations but not the charging case.
He did not file a police report, saying, "I find the chances of getting my money back slim, and going down to the police station to make a report will take quite a long time."
In response to a Stomp query, a spokesperson from Carousell said: "We had first restricted the account 'nugget1616' on Nov 29 following community reports, before fully suspending the account on Dec 7 after our investigations confirmed that the user had committed fraud.
"We urge users to exercise strict due diligence, even during meet-ups. A face-to-face meeting does not guarantee that a seller is genuine, as bad actors may claim the item returned is not the one they sold (resulting in a 'he said, she said' scenario).
"Some tips when buying preowned electronics include:
- thoroughly inspecting and testing the item before making payment.
- verifying serial number on official websites.
- meeting at an authorised service centre to verify authenticity on the spot.
"If a buyer feels unsure or detects any red flags, they should trust their instinct and decline the deal.
"Given the open nature of a C2C marketplace where transactions are often arranged by two regular individuals instead of businesses, we strongly encourage our users to use our platform's safety features to transact.
"Buyers can specifically look for listings that have the 'Buy' button with Buyer Protection enabled. This feature holds payment first and releases it only to the seller after the buyer confirms that the item they have received is exactly as described in the listing description.
"Carousell takes a serious view of the sale of counterfeit goods, and we employ a combination of AI detection and manual moderation to remove counterfeit listings from our platform.
"However, there are limitations as detection relies on factors such as the quality of images that our users upload, the type of items and quality of the fakes. Most items would still require access to the physical items for inspection to ascertain authenticity.
"We will continue to enhance our detection process and workflows."
Stomp received a similar contribution from another Stomper who said he was also a victim of a fake AirPods scam on Carousell in 2024 and made a police report on Mar 10, 2024.
"The counterfeit item was a set of Apple AirPods Pro 2," said Stomper Anonymous. "The seller asked to transact in cash as he claimed he was only 15 years old."
He shared that the transaction took place at Admiralty MRT station.
"The individual was a tall (roughly 185cm) young-looking person of South Asian origin, with long and curly hair, kinda like Brian May from the band Queen," he recounted.
"He wasn't too skinny and was slightly meaty, but not considered fat.
"The product was very convincing, with a warranty and an actual serial number. However, it was only after using it for a while that I realised it was not the real thing.
"I assumed the seller knew about this, as he had stopped replying to me on Carousell.
His username was, 'allcheapstuff101'."
In screenshots shared with Stomp by Anonymous, the seller claimed he did not know the item was fake.
Anonymous did not get his money back, and the counterfeit AirPods remain in his possession.
