How embarrassing! The man who gave his mother-in-law an iPad from Walmart... only to discover it was a useless bit of plastic

By Daily Mail Reporter


Apple we have a problem.

A Florida man shelled out nearly $500 for an iPad at a Miami Walmart on Monday, as a birthday gift for his mother-in-law.

But when the woman opened the present on Wednesday, she was shocked to find it was just a plastic fake and not a real electronic device.

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It looks like an iPad

It looks like an iPad, it feels like an iPad: A Florida man got a fake, plastic iPad at a Miami Walmart. It cost nearly $500 and looked the part but was found to be a knockoff after his mother-in-law opened it on her birthday


Deceiving: The device was wrapped in plastic and appeared to be a real iPad...until they tried to turn it on

Is this a joke?

Is this a joke? Emilio Pereda said his mother-in-law was not amused when she realized her birthday gift was a plastic fake

Emilio Pereda told WFOR-TV that he had helped his father-in-law purchase the Apple device from the discount retailer.

'There were no red flags,' Pereda said, 'It was completely wrapped with this wrapper from Walmart with your sku number that matches the receipt.'


But when the family gifted the high-priced purchase and his mother-in-law opened it - they were shocked to find out it was a knockoff.

'When she opened it she was like, 'What is this a joke?'' he said.

The fake device looked exactly like the device but it did not have charging ports, working buttons and wouldn't even turn on.

'It's a piece of plastic, it's not an iPad at all.'


Knockoff: The company believes the fake device was returned to this Walmart in Miami and so perfectly wrapped, the store assumed it hadn't been opened

The family struggled to get a response from Walmart but the local TV station reached out to the company's corporate office.

A Walmart rep, Kayla Whaling, said the customer apparently purchased an iPad that had been returned. They believe the previous owner wrapped a fake device and re-sealed it so perfectly that it looked as if the item hadn't even been opened.

'Walmart takes this very seriously and we apologize profusely to the customer,' she said.

The company said it would refund the money or ensure the customer received a real Apple product.