‘I want AirPods’: Boy sells 36 items during school fundraiser. Now his mom’s calling out American Fundraising for ‘scamming’ him
A mom is accusing a fundraising company for intentionally sending her child fake AirPods after he reached his sales goal.
A Florida-based realtor on TikTok (@realtormamafl) claims American Fundraising cheated her son by promising him a gift they did not deliver. According to her, the company gave students the option of getting a blanket or Apple AirPods for hitting a certain fundraising quota.
She states that her son met the goal. But when he finally received the AirPods, they didn't work, and the mom claims they weren't even a legitimate Apple product.
The TikToker detailed her frustrating experience in a viral clip that's garnered over 340,000 views.
Default blanket gift
"This video is for American Fundraising services," the mom says. The text overlay further delineates her grievances with the company.
It reads, "True life: my son was scammed by the company who puts on school fundraisers."
The mother explains what happened.
"So my son did a fundraiser at his school. And we sold 36 items. If you are familiar with these school fundraisers, 36 items is a lot," she tells the camera. She then explains that students who met the quota were promised a blanket or AirPods.
After the fundraiser was over, American Fundraising sent the young man a blanket, which his mom wasn't happy about. She contacted the company to let them know her son wanted the AirPods instead. The TikToker then holds up a box of AirPods that she had allegedly been sent by American Fundraising.
She says, "I tried to connect them to my phone and when I did that, only one of them worked."
Fake AirPods
After speaking to Apple Support, the mom was still unable to resolve the connectivity issue. She then decided to drive 45 minutes to the nearest Apple Store to have the problem fixed.
However, after employees took a look at the AirPods, they gave her some disheartening news.
"Come to find out these are not real AirPods," she says.
She says that while the box the device came in was a "legit box," the AirPods inside were fake. The TikToker noticed a discrepancy in the numerical identifiers on the box, the AirPods Pro case, and the AirPods inside.
"The serial number on this doesn't match the serial number on this or these," she says.
Furthermore, she says that when the employee at the store looked up the AirPods, they seemed to belong to someone else entirely.
She says, "When he pulled it up, it said these were Audrey's. My name is Kristen."
The mom received an official report from the Apple Store, which indicated that the headphones were were indeed "not authentic Apple product[s]," and had "been modified."
Following the debacle, the TikToker called American Fundraising but has not heard back yet.
"Somebody owes me some AirPods, okay? Beware if you wanna fundraise and sell all this stuff. That the prizes that they advertise, especially AirPod Pros, it's too good to be true," she warns.
The business of counterfeit Apple products
Given the high price and demand for Apple products, it's no wonder imitations find their way into the market. But with the issue being so widespread, customers need ways to tell whether they are buying real products or not. One Redditor uploaded a "comprehensive guide" to help customers determine if they have fake Apple earbuds.
According to the post, the biggest tell is the green pull tab on the box. If the retail packaging doesn't have this intact, then the AirPods are either fake or the box has been opened.
Misaligned back labels, foreign words not having accents, and blurred text are also other signs that the product is a dupe. Serial numbers that appear "too large" or "too dark" are also usually fake.
Pairing the device with a phone should prompt all warranty and serial number information to appear on the screen of your device. Again, check these to ensure the serial numbers match both the case, the AirPods themselves, and the box.
@realtormamafl UPDATE: They informed me on the phone that they knew they were not legitimate. That they “weren’t supposed to come in an Apple box due to copyright” but they did and “they were surprised too” that they came like that from the vendor. I expressed that my issue is that the box appears authentic and it is not. No one notified us that they were knock offs. If they would have, I wouldn’t have been surprised because it’s a school fundraiser. But willingly handing these out to kids/families and making them think they’re legit is wrong. That’s fraud in my opinion. Awaiting a call back. Maybe the fundraising company got scammed… but either way, someone needs to make it right because this is BS. #schoolfundraiser #elementaryschool #school #teacher #fyp #foryou #florida #airpods #apple #scam #scammer #beware #wtf #noway #wild #mom #momlife #momsoftiktok #viralvideo ♬ original sound - FL REALTOR & MAMA ☀️
TikTokers slam school fundraising
Numerous parents shared their fundraising frustrations in the comments of the Florida mom's TikTok post.
One person wrote, "So what I do is have my son show me on the catalog which prize he is wanting. I go on Amazon & buy it. We will not do fundraisers anymore."
Someone else replied, "I quit doing fundraisers this year. Because the 1lbs cookie dough was $25 and a grand rise was a 2 pound chocolate bar. Why can’t I just GIVE the school $100?"
Another highlighted the exploitative nature of these fundraisers. They wrote, "I stopped doing them because my son sold about $300 worth of stuff. And [he] got a handful of toys you could get out of a quarter machine."
The Daily Dot has reached out to American Fundraising via email and to the content creator via TikTok comment for further information.
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