Latest bendy phone effort from coke empire spinoff Escobar Inc is a tinfoil-plated Samsung Galaxy Fold 'scam'

The latest flashy gold smartphone touted by Escobar Inc, the company set up by Roberto Escobar, brother of infamous Colombian drug baron Pablo, appears to be a Samsung Galaxy Fold in disguise.

YouTuber Marques Brownlee said he discovered this shocking revelation when he finally got his hands on the Fold 2. Within about 30 seconds of unfolding the gizmo, he realised that it was strangely similar to the Samsung Galaxy Fold, released last year in September. His suspicions were confirmed when he started attacking the gold stickers on the hinge of the bendy phone with a box cutter knife.

Once that sticker peels off, the telltale Samsung logo pops up. "It's actually a Galaxy Fold with gold tin foil adhesive to it," he said in his unboxing video.

Marques Brownlee unfolds the Fold 2

Considering the Fold 2 costs just $350, and offers free shipping worldwide and the flappy Samsung equivalent is priced at $1,980, the Escobar version is a bloody good bargain. But that's only if the company based in Medellín, Colombia, decides to send you one.

The whole thing, you see, has been called a big scam by angry punters who haven't received their phones. Those who paid for phones have surmised Escobar pays scantily clad models to appear in hilarious commercials in the hopes the "sexy" adverts persuade more and more people to order the phone, and then the company uses that money to buy expensive Samsung handsets but only sends it to a select few, like Marques Brownlee, for review. Meanwhile, unlucky customers never receive their goods nor get refunded.

Some people who paid for the first phone, the Fold 1, have said they got a book in the post instead. The Fold 1 never materialised so Escobar promised people that they would just get, er, automatically upgraded to the Fold 2. Of course.

The Register has asked Escobar Inc and Samsung for comment. ®