Walmart PS4 Cheap Deal for $90? Scammers Take Advantage of Loophole

A Wal-Mart PS4 deal that got customers the next-generation gaming system for just $90 has been stopped by the retailer Wednesday, according to reports. Scammers used a fake Amazon listing and Wal-Mart's price-matching offer to force the superstores to sell the systems for less than a quarter of their listed price.

Wal-Mart has since updated their price-matching policy, and it no longer includes marketplace or third-party vendors. Price-matching will only be honored from other big retailers like Target, Best Buy and Costco.

"We can't tolerate fraud or attempts to trick our cashiers," Wal-Mart stated. "This kind of activity is unfair to the millions of customers who count on us every day for honest value."

The Wal-Mart PS4 deal scam became possible when the retailer promised to price match items even against select online retailers, which included Amazon. The deal required a screenshot of the item for cheap online so that the cashier could match the price.

"We're committed to providing low prices every day, on everything. So if you find a current lower online price from an online retailer on an identical, in-stock product, tell us and we'll match it," said the company's policy previously.

It didn't take long for some underhanded customers to create their own fake Amazon web listing that had Sony's Playstation 4 listed for just $90. The system normally retails for $399.

However, those getting the best deal ever on a Playstation 4 weren't able to keep the deceit to themselves. Multiple customers posted pictures of their cheaply-purchased game systems on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, which prompted even more to take advantage of the trick.

"LMAO Amazon and Walmart jig just got ps4 for $97," one person wrote as a caption alongside their photo of a receipt and the game system.

Before the Nov. 13 announcement, Wal-Mart had only done price-matching from local competitors.