still real to me yadda yadda yadda

Someone's bullshit detection goggles are working.

baloney detection kit! activate!

I read that story. Some fool went on Ebay and spent £450 on what he thought was an Xbox One but it turned out to be a picture of the box. He even admitted that it said so on the ad, but he hadn't read it properly, so he can't even claim the money back.

I can only begin to imagine the look on the seller's face when he got that bid.

Actually, he got his money back. He could have gotten a fully working XBone, but said the box smelled funny, and eBay and PayPal would have kicked in the seller's door, raped their family, and burned their house down on his behalf. That's how they roll.

Back when the Wii first came out, I saw this very same scam. I (purposely) bid on it, and bid very high - with a message to the seller saying "I am bidding to take it out of auction so you can't scam people". I won the bid, of course, and the seller tried to get me to pay, I said "yeah, try to get eBay to make me". They did not.

eVigilance!

This scam has been happening on eBay for many, many years. Even back when the PS2 came out I remember listings for "PS2 box and receipt" which were just for the box and receipt.