Being a technology writer has its perks: We get to try some of the newest gadgets before anyone else, free of charge. Unfortunately, a scammer is aware of that -- and posing as one of us to con vendors of their schwag.
The scammer's name is Paul Deery, or in some cases, Derry. According to a story in CrunchGear, he's been pretending to be a CrunchGear and
Philadelphia Enquirer writer to fool public relations folks and vendors into shipping him hardware.
This isn't the first time this has happened, but that ain't cool,
"Paul." Here at Gadget Lab we ship products back as soon as we're done testing and reviewing them. If people like Deery continue to abuse our privileges, vendors will probably up their security measures, and we'll have to jump through all sorts of bureaucratic hula hoops just to get products to test -- directly affecting our readers. We're just helping spread the word to put this to an end.
SCAM ALERT: Paul Deery/Derry does not work for CrunchGear or, presumably, the Philadelphia Inquirer [CrunchGear]
