[Cryptography] Walmart fooled by non-authenticated web pages

Henry Baker hbaker1 at pipeline.com
Thu Nov 20 19:46:26 EST 2014


FYI --

Looks like Walmart is going to have to check authentication on _printed-out web pages_, as well...

Any thoughts about how to do this?  (I have no relationship w/ Walmart!)

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/wal-mart-scammed-selling-playstation-4-90-n251831

Wal-Mart Scammed into Selling PlayStation 4 for $90

Customers have misused Wal-Mart's price match promotion to obtain $400 PlayStation 4 consoles for less than a quarter of the retail price using third-party sellers on Amazon.  The company announced on Nov. 13 that it would price-match select online retailers, including Amazon.com.  However, any Amazon member with a registered selling account can *** create authentic looking pages *** and list items "for sale" online.  Consumers need only take a *** screen capture of the page *** and show it to a cashier at checkout in order to request the price match.  Wal-Mart's online price match policy states, "We're committed to providing low prices every day, on everything.  So if you find a current lower online price from an online retailer on an identical, in-stock product, tell us and we'll match it."  Few employees appear to have verified the legitimacy of these online deals as many customers were able to purchase gaming systems for $90.  The scam seems to have been initiated after Sears 
accidentally listed several Nintendo consoles on its site for $60, according to Consumerist, a consumer advocacy site.  Members of Twitter and Reddit communities have posted pictures of receipts documenting that Wal-Mart had accepted these fake Amazon listings.



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