Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds "New" Fake Leupold's

All the other Leupold "fakes" that I have ever seen, the serial number is all numbers, no letters. It appears there is a fresh counterfeit out there or at least new to me. I got screwed on a pair of them and both have the same serial number. I am only posting this in hopes that other members don't get screwed too.

Thanks 160

I was offered a few Mark4’s 2 years ago and went to check them out. They were in a white “Leupold” box and the front bell was machined at an angle. I asked the seller where he got them, and he beamed and said what a deal he got on them from wish.com…

I don’t believe he knew they were counterfeit at the time. He was upset (not with me) when I explained to him they were fakes. They also had SN’s with only numbers… the fakers are getting smarter.

Sorry for your swindling👎🏻

Thanks for the heads up! The gold ring and letters just don't add up.

FYI, both have the same serial number so I suspect that whole batch does. It may be worth keeping a picture of that serial number to reference.

I purchased two in one week off Gunbroker last summer. Both where VX3 3.5-10. Luckily both very reputable sellers that where mortified they where duped and never meant to dupe anyone. They refunded me 100%. Another big tell is the power adjustment knob is plastic, and it moves a slight amount back and forth. Thanks for posting. Really stinks that you gotten taken advantage of.

I came very close to buying a Swarovski from a reputable GS in northern WI...couple years ago. As I played around with it a blue reticle turned up.

The owner was pretty surprised. I asked him if he bought it in a bar.

Is it true that the gloss ones are not fakes yet? I stay away from matte used ones, I’ll just buy new if I need one for this reason.

🤬 thanks for letting us know.

Sorry to Hear this Sir! Hate a scammer / thief!

I probably picked a bad time to list a Leupold… Ha!

I would have ZERO concerns buying one from you! None what so ever.

Leupold powers up to the right. Knock offs power up to the left. Simple difference

On every counterfeit Leupold I have seen, the power ring is backwards like the one shown in the picture.

Also, the turret caps are higher.

This one also shows a Roman numeral on the objective bell, not a 3i.

I have seen VX2 on the bottom of turret and a VX-II on the bell.

Mil-dot reticle is another red flag.

Adjustment caps are larger on knock offs won't interchange. Leupold is smaller diameter

Gloss ones are genuine. Ive never seen one faked

Mount one and shoot it! Report back please.

Not a chance. In a twist of fate, the guy that sold them to me turns out to be a member here. I just want my money back and he can stick his counterfeit scopes where the sun doesn't shine. I will see if he responds to my PM.

Where did you purchase them from so we know where to avoid?

It was at a local gun show. The guy is also a member here, as well as sells on eBay and Gunbroker. I sent him a PM asking what his reputation was worth but he just read it and deleted it.

Reupold!

Oh no….. I’m so sorry for your misfortune.

I was just about to ask where you bought them. Was it a cheap price ? I wonder if they are a good scope?

Bad timing on my part. I was just about to list one of these. Now I will have to take a closer look.
donsm70

We need to know who to avoid.

That's not good.

I bought a tricked out 10/22 from a friend of a friend. He was up front and told me the scope was a fake Leupold, but 6 years later, still operates just fine.

Hey, if he was honest about it I would have no hard feelings. When I brought them back to him to point out that they were a fake his response was "I never said they were a Leupold" so he knew they were fake. All through our discussions I referred to them as "Leupold's" and he never corrected me or came clean. It is sad that Brads reputation is only worth $500. Mine isn't for sale at any price.
I am going to sleep on this and decide what to do. I was hoping the seller would realize the poor judgement they exercised and decide to make it right. Other have suggested contacting Law Enforcement for "Theft by Swindle" charges. Either way, I just hate a blatant crook.

I'm honestly wondering how well the knock off tracks compared to the original.

I would try and get my money back. I have a couple of them on rimfire rifles and they do good. I wouldn’t trust them on a high powered rifle. One thing if it’s off shooting at a squirrel that’s fine but a nice Buck hell no!

Thanks for the pics and info. Good info to know and watch out for. Thanks again 160.

It seems like my "Circle of Trust" is about the size of a Cheerio anymore.

Hopefully he comes to his senses, especially being a local Minnesota guy and a member on here and other sites. Whether he realized it or not, there is still the right thing to do, him knowing it and not doing the right thing just makes it that much worse. Good luck, sucks seeing a honest person taken advantage of.

Tag

Do Leupold scopes have the "x" on each power on the power ring?.... 3x 4x 5x etc?

Honestly, I am not sure. It is one of those things that you look at so often and never even notice. I look at my license plate daily but can't tell you what it is. I can tell you Brad's though.

My Leupolds don't have X's on the individual powers.

Don't know if that's the case on all.

LHS

I’ve seen several at local gun shows here in Ms… Called them out every time…. Couple of guys at the tables didn’t believe me….. one was on a 722 222 remington I wanted the rifle but I told the man I wouldn’t buy it with a fake Leupold on it He got upset I asked him to call Leupold and give them the serial # he would t A month later at another show same man same 722 No fake Leupold on it…. He called it was a fake He apologized to me Tried to sell me the bare rifle I passed I had already bought a different 222 I hated it for him or any one else But it’s happening Be careful The adjustment knobs on them are just different and the gold rings just don’t ha VE the same look Last one I saw was a week ago at a show Guy had it on a boat paddle ruger…. I informed him it was a fake He clearly had it la eked on his tag Leupold I told him it was a fake… he stated it was crystal clear it was a Leupold… I bet him a $100 bill it was fake and to call Leupold now to confirm it He laughed and said I’ll call them monday I came back a little while later v snapped a pic And called Leupold myself Sure as shooting It was a fake 160user I hate it for you sir I’ve bought from you before You are one of the good ones here It’s a terrible feeling for sure

Since it was a local gun show, file a police report and get it to whomever runs the gun show.

I almost bought some powder once at a gun show. All the containers had a price sticker. I lifted up a “pound” of RL15 since it wasn’t too high. It was way light and asked about it. The seller said, “I never said it was a full pound.” I despise people like that. PLEASE let us know who it is.

I usually either call Leupold or email them with serial number before I purchase.

I have seen a fake Zeiss too, I mounted it for a customer at LGS. I told him it was fake.

Same here. A minute of prevention..

If I'm not mistaken, selling or attempting to sell merchandise made in another country, purporting to be a US copyrighted brand, is a federal offense.

A easy way to tell is the screw on the power.adjustment ring is a rough finish,Not milled smooth;And the adjustment dials are a sticker rather than a ceramic texture,If anyone will text me threw my pm ,I'll be more than glad to send pictures to them to show how to tell the difference,I have them side by side comparison,Aso the Owner /Operating pamphlet will not have the Leupold address in Beverton Oregon on it anywhere,

You can't avoid them. They are everywhere. Legit business are getting duked. Me and a freind ordered a couple from wish . Just to see how they were. For a cheap hunting scope Tasco, Simmons, cheap weavers, they work for that. Glass is very subpar $60. However they track and can be hunted. My freind is still hunting with one. My curiosity was satisfied so I gave it away. They are in the states by the thousands. I don't own a leopold nor would I buy a used. I know you can call them with the serial # to check. Hiw long will it be until China finds a way to put real numbers on them.

If it holds Zero and adjusts correctly its probably a Fake!!!

That one never gets old.....not.

if they are still in the box, they usually misspell the word "matte" by listing it as "matt"

Enjoyed a really smooth transaction with you 160.
Really hate to hear you got taken advantage of.

The guys argument is that he never told me they were Leupold's.

Good to know, thanks.

For the kinda cash you mentioned earlier it should have been understood that you thought they were legit. Unless someone wanted a cheap scope for a 22 I don't know anyone who would buy a fake leupold on purpose

Fakes I've seen also have a brass colored gold ring and If you loosen the the eyepiece it will be very loose. No o-ring and loose threads.

Thats complete garbage. Have you named this user yet?

They should not be anywhere in the country unless they say fake right on them. I would not put them on any guns.

Thank you - I attend the shows in MN when I'm in the area. I'll keep an eye out for 'Brad' and make sure to avoid him. Seems the best thing to do now days is buy new.

That is rich!!!! LMAO

Does anyone have photo comparisons?

I hate cheaters but I love a good stout rope..

If anyone is interested, check out 18 USC 2230 - which makes it a federal felony to sell counterfeit goods with a penalty of 10 years and $2M fine - first offense. Trademark violations are considered pretty serious. There is even a tip line at Homeland Security…

I have picture comparisons if someone can post them for me,

One of my friends bought several of the 2-7x33 VX2 knockoffs a couple of years ago to put on Ruger 10/22s for his grandkids. He gave me one of them to try and it held its zero through 500 rounds of 10/22 shooting. I helped him mount the scopes and bore-sight the rifles and noticed that all of the scopes that he bought had the same serial number, 434670X. I don't remember which way the collar turned to adjust the magnification up and down.

What is “Brad’s” user name here on 24hcf?

Surprising how many guys are quick to judge when they only hear one side of the story. I took on the task of selling off a lot of items from a veteran with dementia that he can't use anymore. A lot of the stuff was picked up on the Monday before the show and since I already had 2 tables I called and was able to get a third table for his stuff. I never had time to go thru everything I just took it with me. I was able to get most of the stuff on the tables but I spent the first couple of hours just trying to price items. Thanks to the help from some other dealers I was able to price items close to what they should sell for. The scopes in question were still in the box uninspected by me but priced with no description or labels just a price. The dealer came to the table and wanted a deal on one of the scopes so I traded for some bullets at less then what the scope was priced. During the whole conversation the word Leupold was never mentioned once, the only thing he asked was if it was a 4.5-14 and I had to look at the scope to confirm that it was. After he walked away I looked the other one over and the scope seemed well made. The glass was clear and all the adjustments were tight and smooth so I thought maybe I was under priced. About a half hour later he came back and wanted the other one and this time we traded for some primers and again I took less in trade then I was asking for the scope. I figured I must have really under priced them. Some time after that I walked past his table and saw the scopes on his table with a large mark up of price and figured I must have really traded cheap but he was a dealer and needs to make some money too. A couple of hours after that he comes back to my table with the scopes and said they aren't Leupolds and I said what would you like to do because I never said they were Leupolds so how do you want to do this. He just gave me a blank stare, never said any more and walked away. All he had to do was say he screwed up and we should trade back and it would have been over. I never said they were Leupolds, I never labeled them that way, they were in the original boxes, he looked them over himself, I left the trade up to him, there was no cash involved, I left the final decision up to him and he walked away. I had a couple of used Leupolds on the table next to these and he could have looked them over and compared apples to apples but he was looking at a quick flip and make some easy cash. You guys can condem me all you want but I offered him a chance to drive down and trade back but he would rather smear me with your help. I have done a lot of business on these forums over the last 20+ years and not once have I ever had an issue and I have never used it to smear any other member. There isn't a single person on here who hasn't made a mistake at some time but you talk it out and make a decision you don't walk away and then bad mouth the other guy. I'm not going to use this forum for a pissing match because that's not what it's for but I will stand up for myself and if he is anything at all he will admit his lack of judgement and we can go from there. Now you have heard how the transactions really happened and we can move on.

Exactly how much should fake Leupold's sell for? Did you ever inform him that you knew they were fake? You offer something for sale that is counterfeit, saying "I never said they were Leupold" is not a defense. That is an [bleep] move.

"I figured I must have really under priced them"

Did it not ever cross your mind that people thought they were legit scopes?

You're selling illegal counterfeit optics and you're blaming the buyer. That is not a good move. But hey, throwing out the helping a "veteran" card makes it all ok, right?

Brad,
Are you a lawyer by trade? Sure sound like one. "I never said they're a Leupold"....

All we should be reading is you admit to your mistake and how you can pay 160 back. Even if you're unable to collect from the veteran it's probably a drop in the bucket to what we owe our veterans for the lives we have.

Never taught that I Would Agreed with you Dinny, but you are 100% ''Correct''

Dirty Harry

Leupold should have a utility on their website where you enter the SN and it tells you if it's legit and CDS used etc.

Seems to me that if you sell something that turns out to be fake/counterfeit that you have an obligation to take the item back regardless of what each party said or didn't say. Same thing with selling coins.

Thing is that you never know if the seller knew that he was selling fakes.

Like the gent selling for the vet. They aren't yours so you're not out anything, but he might be. You can take a BFH to them and put them out of their misery OR list them as counterfeits at a cheaper price. Make sure that buyer knows what they are buying [maybe sign a paper saying so] since it seems like they will work for someone. I will give the seller Brad the benefit of the doubt that he didn't know the scopes were fake until the buyer brought them back.

This shouldn’t be too hard to sort out. Meet somewhere in the middle, trade back what you traded. Shake hands and be done with it.

I’m always interested in the whole story, and appreciate Brad providing his side. The only question I have is regarding the packaging.

“The scopes in question were still in the box uninspected.”

How were they packaged? Were the boxes labeled Leupold?

LHS

And in return you have a scope laying on your gunshow table or whatever that is stamped “Leupold vx3” or whatever it was he would not need to tell you that it is Leupold. But he would need to tell you that even though it says Leupold it is not. If the item is branded as such it should be explained that it is not as it is branded.

I knew they weren't Leupolds and I figured he did. The word Leupold doesn't appear anywhere on the box and neither one of us even included the word in our conversation. He was looking at a quick flip for some easy cash. He looked them over and was happy with the trade. I never forced his hand and when he came back I asked him how he wanted to handle it and he just walked away. I never tried to sell the trade items I put them under the table in case he wanted to trade back. To me it was just another scope like the other dozen on the table. People looked at stuff on my tables all weekend, they asked questions, bought stuff, made offers and there was no issues. I have already made him the offer of trading back but he won't accept. I priced them at $250 with some room to accept offers and when I traded got around $200 to $225 in items at his price . A 4.5-14 Leupold new in the box is going to be $500+ and I had a couple of used Leupolds there priced in that area not in boxes. I never instigated the sale, he called the shots.

Some people aren't aware that there are counterfeit leupolds. It says leupold on the scope itself even if it doesn't say anything on a box. My dad has been conned with one of them too.

My generation is far less trusting than my father's generation for good reason. The world has changed and people have too.

Where does the linked Craigslist ad flow into the timeline here? Hopefully not still up as shown.
It had Leupold in the title, but I don't know how that came to be.

"I figured he did." That's a poor defense when knowingly peddling counterfeit wares.


"The word Leupold doesn't appear anywhere on the box"

Were you peddling boxes or scopes?


If you were selling the large lot of counterfeit scopes for a demented veteran, why did you trade? Were you planning on paying the veteran for that scope? Or selling the components?

Knowing they were counterfeit, why did you agree to sell them??????????

Brad, You said "I took on the task of selling off a lot of items from a veteran with dementia that he can't use anymore" but then you traded them for bullets and primers. What was a veteran with dementia going to do with bullets and primers?

Most of what Brad said is true. There were papers in the boxes (in the original pictures) that were Leupold. All through our dealings, I referred to them as Leupold's and he never corrected me. I will readily admit that I am the first person in history to buy something at a gun show that I thought was underpriced and then try to resell it for more. Guilty as charged. As far as his offer about "What I wanted to do now", I don't remember his saying that at all. The blank stare was likely rage. If he had offered, I would have taken him up on it. Why else would I have brought them back to him? We were in the same room together for another 24 hours and you never came and asked what we could do to correct this. I will take some ownership in this. I did the trade because I thought I could make a few bucks but I never lied or misrepresented what I had.
As far as the pissing match, I never once mentioned your user name. You did that yourself.

EOTech went thru this (fakes) ~15 years ago. DOJ got involved and guys selling them at gun shows had their entire supply seized.

So did Coach purses. When ghetto stores were selling them at too good to be true type prices the store would get raided and everything was seized.

Red flag for me is when the prize is too good.

Seems to me the buyer bears some responsibility to do 'due diligence'. Sounds like he did and only afterward realized he didn't inspect as thoroughly as he should have. Not the seller's fault or problem in my mind.

What about selling the scopes at your cost and disclose they are knock offs ? We are now in a world where this is becoming more common with little to stop it. Misrepresenting an item is plain unethical. About 4 years ago I was at a gun show and a couple sellers I knew had some new Leupold scopes in Leupold boxes at about half price of what they should have been. I almost bought one, but I had a strange feeling about it. He sold them. I never heard of fake Leupolds back then. I’ve since read that China has copied Leupold scopes including the boxes. Their are a few ways to tell a fake, but the Chinese are getting smarter. Buyer beware!

I would expect that he would sell them eventually.

You guys can say what you want because you weren't there to witness what what was said or how the transactions went. He was fine with everything and when he brought them back I asked him what he wanted to do and he ended up walking away. I have offered to trade back so it's up to him. Like I said I never looked at any of the paperwork, I looked at the second scope after he took the first but I never went over it with a fine tooth comb. I quickly checked function and clarity in between customers and it seemed like a decent scope, better then some others on the table. If they were illegal where did the original purchaser get it, he doesn't remember anything about it.

Your defense is you assume everybody knows that they are conterfeit and you're ignorant of the fact that it is illegal to sell counterfeit wares?

.

I never knew anything about this whole issue, it's not like it's on the nightly news. This is only the second gun show I have set up at since 1998. The kids are all out of the house so I figured I would start going again. But after all this crap it will be my last one. I will take everything back and the veterans wife will have to figure out something else.

And what a genuine, heartfelt offer it is! I stand corrected guys.

So you didn't know that there was an issue with fake scopes being sold? Then why did you price them so much less than genuine articles? Or did you not know that using another company's name, logo, branding, etc on a similar good was wrong?

Do you see what I mean here?

I never seen Leupold anywhere on them and I never priced them that way. I was really busy taking care of people and trying to price things, answer questions and such. If I would have had more time to inspect all the items in the totes it would have helped. As soon as I started unpacking the dealers were there asking about items and the public shortly after. I was by myself doing the best I could. If you guys have never set up at a gun show, especially after so much time has passed, it was overwhelming with 3 tables full of stuff.

I made the offer to trade back repeatedly now.

My ignore list groweth.

Everything is being counterfeited today not limited to , Zeiss, Swarovski, Eotech's, Leupolds, and other brands. They show up at flea markets, Ebay, and Amazon from sellers.
Evidently U.S. Customs are not doing a good job of stopping them at the port of entry.
I have no dog in this fight but I strongly suggest you 2 MEN get together and get this straightened out , whatever it takes , especially since Brad admitted to committing a crime publicly here.
A persons reputation and "friendship" are worth more than any amount of Money , and I personally would do whatever it took to make my "customer" happy , even at my own expense.
Fighting over Chinese crap is not productive or worth it.

If that offer to trade back was worded that way to me I wouldn't meet with someone like that again either.

Exactly! If I had an "unhappy" customer and wanted to make things right I would have taken a different approach. He is on ignore now, here and in life.

First you assumed he knew they were fake. Then it was "it didn't say Leupold on the box". Now "I never seen Leupold anywhere on them".


Hmmmm, ever changing story.

You sold counterfeit goods, end of discussion. You not only broke the law, but you also keep changing your story.

He is not a customer, he is a dealer. He wanted to make some quick easy cash. He had them marked up over double what we traded for. I have offered several times to trade back no matter how it's worded. I found out he lied about the whole transaction at the gun show too. You guys can put any slant on it you want but he approached me to make the deal and I agreed to his terms and since he is not happy I have offered several times now to trade back. I will return the scopes to the wife and let her do as she wants with them. Any other issues you guys have state them now, let's settle them and move on.

You saw them in person before buying? Were they in a sealed box or are you blind?

He most certainly was your customer.

Both let greed cloud their judgement. There's only about 100 red flags those weren't legit Leupolds. One was hoping no one questioned it, the other was hoping to turn a profit.