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Want a New Mobile Phone Packed With Porn Images? Look Out for Ad on EBay!

by Gopalan on Sep 19 2008 1:50 PM

An Australian student has said she will put up her new Samsung mobile phone, packed with graphic porn images, for auction on eBay. The electronic stores chain from where she had bought the phone would not care to take it back.

The university student from Cairns in Queensland said she was shocked and disgusted to find her new mobile phone contained pornographic images of a female employee from a Cairns Dick Smith Electronics store for $199.

"It’s sickening to think I’ve been using this phone near my face when it was used to take all of these photos," she said.

"What would’ve happened if that phone was bought for a child?"

"I’m not disgusted by what she did. What people do in their own homes is their business. But I’m disgusted that it was left on the shelf to be sold."

The shop sold her the display phone because it was the last one in stock, but she later contacted the store to complain that it was faulty because she could barely hear callers talking.

She then accessed the phone’s menu and discovered 49 images, including the female staff member in her Dick Smith Electronics uniform outside the store, two other people, and what appear to be various interior shots of a motel room.

Benedict Brook, a spokesman for the retailer, said it had seen a handful of the images in question, and the one or two images that were pornographic were blurry.

"The quantity of the people and the pornographic images is still not clear," he said.

"Obviously, we're taking this very seriously and we're investigating what's happened here.

"The phone they had was a display phone. They're sometimes used by staff to take pictures to show customers how to use them and they're supposed to wipe those phones before they are then sold.

"We've talked to all of our staff at the Cairns store to see if there's any information they can help us with.

"We encourage all of our staff to give the phones to customers in as-new condition."

He said the retailer's Queensland manager had met with the student who bought the phone and discussions about compensation were ongoing.

The spokesman said the female staff member would not comment on the matter while the investigation was still under way.

But as the chain kept stalling over the issue of compensation, despite the national embarrassment, the girl chose to dare it by opting for the e-bay route.

“We haven’t heard a single thing from anyone at Dick Smith, not so much as an apology or offer of a refund or even where they’re at in the investigation,” she said.

“We’re deeply disappointed in the way the thing has been handled and all we can do is to advise people to think twice about where they buy their mobile phones.”

She told The Cairns Post she was selling the phone to recoup the $199 cost to buy it because Dick Smith Electronics is yet to offer her a refund.

The handset is expected to be listed on the auction site as "the original Dick Smith scandal mobile phone" with a reserve price of $200.

“We don’t want it, and apparently Dick Smith doesn’t want it, so we’re open to all offers and it will be on eBay from Monday,” she said.

“Reserve will be set at $200, which is what we paid for this second-hand phone that we thought was new.

“It’ll come in its original box with charger, dishonoured contract and 49 dodgy photos including those of the Dick Smith staff member, which some people might find entertaining.”

Dick Smith Electronics now says the sale on eBay would hinder the company’s ability to investigate the matter.

Source-Medindia
GPL/SK


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