Not many people would destroy their credit and risk prison for such an easily traceable case of theft/fraud.
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There are plenty of people who do stuff this stupid (and worse) every day. Plus you get people who a) used someone else's credit card to order or b) used stolen credit card & purchase information to begin with, etc. It's easy to think "they should do x, y, and z" when thinking like a consumer. Of course it would be better for the consumer if they sent the replacement right away and only charged for a 2nd tablet if they didn't get the first one back, but businesses get burned doing things like that very regularly. But looking at it like a business, it's risky. Even if it is somewhat easily traceable, it costs time & effort (which costs money) to track down the offenders.
You know how they could do it and protect themselves? Charge everyone more up front. I'd rather they didn't.