A group that calls itself CrepChiefNotify claims to have used bot software to have bought up almost 3500 PS5s.
Any of you who tried to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X and were unsuccessful will know all about how frustrating the process can be. Even those of you who did manage to land a console will have likely had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get one. What makes it so annoying is that even when you fire up the site as sales go live, it still doesn't guarantee you'll leave it with a PS5 or Series X secured.
It likely left a lot of you wondering what exactly you need to do to be one of the lucky ones. In the UK last week, many sites' virtual queues reached lengths of more than 200,000 people. Since most of those people would have entered the site at the exact same time, many of you might assume that the order of the queue is selected at random for the most part.
That might be true. However, there are also people out there using bots and software to bypass those queues and unfairly bag themselves a console ahead of thousands of others. As much as retailers have tried to counteract anyone doing that sort of thing, there are always some who find ways around it. CrepChiefNotify, for example. A group based in the UK that told Business Insider it managed to accrue 3500 PS5s between preorder launch day and release day last week.
The group is made up of thousands of members, all of which pay a subscription service for access to CrepChiefNotify's software. It will notify users when and where a selected product is back in stock, allow them to bypass any virtual queue that has been created, add the desired items to the cart and take care of the check out process.
That means even those at the front of the gargantuan virtual queues in the UK last week may have missed out as they were unknowingly passed by bots. CrepChiefNotify's manager, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed that their users landed 2472 PS5s last week, and a little less than 1000 when pre-orders went live in September. They will now be sold on various resale sites, some of which have next-gen consoles listed for as much as $1600.
Source: Business Insider