All nine-year-old Scott Lundy wanted for Christmas was a Sony PlayStation 4.

So when he saw the box he cried: "This is the best present ever, this is the best Christmas ever!" according to his dad, Brian, who spoke with Fox News.The Christmas joy quickly turned to despair however when Scott, from Massachussetts, US, discovered what was inside.Instead of a brand new console was a slab of wood, carved roughly in the shape of a PS4.

As if that wasn't disappointing enough, the mysterious grinch prankster had crudely scribbled the male anatomy on the side of the wood, along with a cruel missive: "From c*** and balls with love".Stepmother Kristin said Scott was crying and upset after the event.

"He's in the play room by himself and he just wants to be alone," Mrs Lundy told Fox.
"At that point I was crushed."She said it was like the message inside was "laughing in your face".

Luckily, the Target store where the "console" was purchased replaced the fake PS4 with a real one, and threw in a $US100 ($137) gift card and a free game to boot, according to the Lundys."Couldn't have been any kinder," Mrs Lundy said.

As for how the block of wood ended up in the box, dad Brian said the store's manager told them "it happens occasionally and ... they just go with it"."[But] We're the only one that actually brought something back with a wooden block," he said.

One possible theory is that a customer purchased a PS4 then returned the box to the store with the block of wood inside — crafted perfectly to fit within the packaging — pocketing the cash or credit as well as the real console.

The packaging appeared to have not been tampered with, and Target is investigating the incident, according to Fox.
The Lundys said they planned to sit down and write a letter to Santa Claus complaining of the "naughty elf" behind the prank.