The launch of the new consoles, now over a year ago, was complicated to put it mildly. We know that the difficulty in semiconductor production has made it difficult to keep pace with supply and demand, but this has also been accompanied by the problem of touts . Both PS5 and Xbox Series X (but also the new RTX 30 GPU , or Switch OLED this year) they found themselves besieged by the crafty ones, who bought them in large quantities to resell them at higher prices .
As a result, with sales relegated to online retailers due to the pandemic, bot systems of all sorts have been engineered to secure as many consoles as possible and increase revenue – complete with touts that, in the UK, they mocked innocent consumers who tried to buy hardware at list prices.
Finally, a meager consolation arrives: a scalper was arrested in Tokyo precisely for reselling consoles at a higher price and, faced with his responsibilities, admitted his faults.
As reported by the Japanese media, reported by the specialized site Kotaku , the suspect is an unemployed 50-year-old to whom a shipper had entrusted a shipment of PS5 and Nintendo Switch to be moved – which had to be delivered to consumers. It is not clear what relationship existed between the shipper and the man.
Whatever the reason or role the man was hired for, the suspect decided to go his own way: resold the consoles of his cargo to shops in Akihabara , of course. by raising prices, and pocketed the money .
The total value amounted to 5.8 million yen, about 45 thousand euros , with a profit of almost 23 thousand euros for the accused .
Read also: PS5 is one year old and like her we are all a little older
After completing the sales, the man had lost track of him by staying in the dormitories of an internet café – some, in fact, have spaces reserved for rest in Japan.
When questioned about the allegations, the man admitted that he had resold the consoles because “I’m having money problems” .
However, there is also a surprise ending: the profit, in fact, was immediately lost for betting on horse racing . Which could be why the suspect tried to get the money in the first instance.
«I bet almost all that money on a horse race» added the 50-year-old. In case you need further reasons to invite, kindly , to leave the consoles in the care of those who want to use them simply to play .
If you’re one of those who managed to bring home the Nintendo Switch OLED, how about equipping it with an official MicroSD card at the lowest price ever?
