Woman Embarrassingly Buys $180 Block of Wood Thinking It's an iPad

"Spectacularly stupid."

That's what Gawker is calling Ashley McDowell, the woman who bought a block of wood with an Apple logo on it, thinking it was an iPad.

Two men approached McDowell in a South Carolina McDonald's parking lot and told her they had a special deal on new iPads. They wanted $300 for their specially-painted block of wood, but when McDowell only had $180, they decided to make the deal anyway. It wasn't until McDowell got home that she realized her super cool new gadget was really a wooden block.

There's more.

After McDowell realized her mistake, she called the police  and they actually launched an investigation into the duplicitous scammers. McDowell claims that the men told her they bought the iPads in bulk and were selling them at a discount.

But the craziness doesn't end with McDowell's less-than-prudent purchase or the police investigation. The crooks are bonkers, too. They took the time to paint a screen and a couple of fake icons onto the block of wood they sold in a taped-up FedEx box. They may be good artists, but if anyone asked to open the box it'd be pretty hard to pass a block of wood off as the sleek (not wood) new tool, even with the most accurate of painted-on icons. It's probably a better idea to keep people from opening the package in the first place.

A warning to all the bargain hunters out there: If you swipe the screen of your new iPad and get a splinter, you may have gotten duped. In addition, a general caution to not make purchases from guys who approach you in McDonald's parking lots.