Scamming in the sneaker world is nothing new, but with technology, it’s become even more elaborate and commonplace with some of the most sought-after releases.
Over the weekend, the Awake NY x Nike Air Jordan 5 dropped after months of hype leading up to the release. As expected, sneakerheads were looking for any upper hand possible to make sure they were able to secure the $230 sneaker in “Racer Blue” or “Bubble Gum Pink.”
That’s when X user @yasiindaily hopped on the timeline, allegedly advertising a Friends and Family link to anyone interested in copping a pair. Screenshots provided by Nice Kicks show the user getting complimented by others, claiming she is a legit plug, and her telling others interested to DM her for the hookup.
One user named @jitthebeast even posted screenshots of an order confirmation for both pairs in size 9. Then she’s alleged to have sent the family and friends link to a bunch of people at an undisclosed price. And while she reportedly continued to accept the money, she stopped sending out the links, having allegedly made $6,000 in the scheme.
She then joined a Spaces session, where she admitted to sending people the private link after she knew some people would gladly avoid the outrageous prices, including @jitthebeast, who was staring down a $1,500 price tag for two pairs. He later tweeted a thank you to her, shouting her out for the “alley-oop.”
“Basically, he made the post, sh-t got lit, I helped a couple people, and the sh-t just got out of hand,” she admitted.
She then explained that she’s got a friend who works for Awake, and she ran into him in Central Park ahead of the release, which is how she got the link that she eventually sold off.
“Anybody that sent me $100, I feel bad for y’all That’s my fault,” she continued. “Whatever, I really don’t give a f-ck. If you wanna dispute the sh-t that’s cool, but I’m not worried about it.”
She also refused to discuss the money she received.
The scam seems to have worked for a few, but that made it even harder for honest sneakerheads without a plug to grab a pair, even if they got a confirmation email.
“Due to an unprecedented volume of orders for the Racer Blue pairs, we unfortunately cannot fulfill all orders in sizes 12, 13, 14 and 15,” read an email addressing the order processing timeline.
Awake has gotten wind of the situation and released a statement to Nice Kicks, refuting @yasiindaily’s story of how she got the link.
“We don’t have any connection to Yasiindaily, nor does anyone else on our team. Nobody who works at Awake NY shared the link with this person,” it read.
See how social media is reacting to the sneaker drama below.
