Looks almost legit. (Photo: Ceres Police Department/SF Gate)

Looks almost legit. (Photo: Ceres Police Department/SF Gate)

Now it just feels like scammers are running out of ideas. Police in California say people are being duped into buying what they think are iPads and flat screen televisions until they open up the boxes and find out it's anything but.

Recently, a rash of victims in Central Valley are reporting that people are being approached outside of stores and are offered name brand electronics for discounted prices. Because nothing about that equation sounds sketchy at all.

So, instead of opening up Apple-branded boxes to find the pricey tablets they're finding standard floor "tiles masquerading as iPads." In another instance, a victim found a large piece of wood instead of a flat screen television.

And the scammers were really into tricking their victims, reports SFGate.com:

The perpetrators went so far as to fill boxes with packing peanuts, while including recognizable logos and accessories that usually come with such products.

Police say they don't know who is behind these scams. That sounds similar to a case in December where Beats headphones were replaced by tins of tuna, but at least you could eat that.