Fighting flash fraud on Ebay

The authors of this blog want to elimnate flash fraud on Ebay

Guide to fake flash

with 27 comments

Question: What is a fake USB flash drive?
Answer: It is a drive where the control chip has been programmed to report a false capacity to the operating system.

Question: What is a counterfeit USB flash drive?
A counterfeit USB flash drive is one that seems to show a brand name (either in the wording of a listing or in the picture) such as Sony or Kingston – or a trade-mark name belonging to a company (such as Micro Vault for Sony or Data Traveller for Kingston) but does not match a flash drive of that capacity produced by the company. These drives are (like unbranded drives) fake capacity.

An ebay member who bought fake USB flash drives has now written a guide to fake flash. She has kindly sent us a copy. You can see the guide (pdf file) here by clicking on the link below (opens in a new window) and print it or save it to your computer if you want a copy to refer to:
Helen’s fake flash guide (updated Sunday 08 March 2009)

Thanks for your help, Helen. If anyone has information they think Helen should add to her guide just leave a comment on this page and we will ask her to add this when she revises her guide.

If you think you bought a fake Kingston flash drive please report the matter to Kingston immediately – if you go to the Kingston website you will find a number on which you can phone their customer service department and give them details of your purchase.

The only 64GB drive from Kingston is the datatraveller 150 - the 64GB is a dark-ish red rather than orange. Anything else you see of this capacity is fake/counterfeit. If you bought a fake/counterfeit Kingston drive on ebay report the matter to Kingston, the Police and Ebay.

Written by fightflashfraud

March 3, 2009 at 11:18 pm

27 Responses

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  1. [...] it immediately with h2testw. Fake flash drive = lost files in the long run!  Go to the page:  Guide to fake flash to get this valuable [...]

    Guide to fake USB flash drives now available from fightflashfraud! « Fighting flash fraud on Ebay

    March 3, 2009 at 11:54 pm

  3. just in case there are any other people travelling through delhi, beware of all the market places which are FLOODED with hundreds of separate shops selling all sorts of fake (mostly Kingston) flash drives. everything from 40gb to 128gb are on sale for as little as $8US, so everything about the shops screams fake.

    I havent seen this sort of concentration of fake sellers anywhere else in India (or the world) yet, so just be wary in Delhi.

    Brendan

    March 5, 2009 at 8:53 am

  4. This guide looks great – really clear. I just clicked the link and printed it out from the acrobat reader rather than downloading it – but I guess if you don’t have a colour printer downloading it would be a better idea.

    Vera Grimm

    March 5, 2009 at 11:25 pm

  5. I found this guide through a link from another site – really good for people buying USB flash drives. Any chance of something about other flash memory items like SD cards, MP4 players and so on?

    Mary

    March 5, 2009 at 11:32 pm

  6. Hi Mary,

    Helen doesn’t know anything about MP3 and MP4 players so she would need advice from users of these devices to write a guide on these. She does use memory cards but tells us she has no experience of fake ones.

    She says she will try to include other fake flash items like MP players and memory cards once she feels she has enough accurate information available to do so.

    fightflashfraud

    March 7, 2009 at 6:21 pm

  8. I notice that someone downloaded my guide and provided it as an attachment to a comment on a blog about computer games in Romania.

    Whilst I have no objection, as such, to people distributing my guide without charge it is far better if people link to the page on this blog where it can be downloaded. That way people will always get the latest version.

    Please not that I hold copyright for the guide and would strongly object to it being sold without my permission!

    If you want to sell my guide on ebay or elsewhere please get in touch first by leaving a message on this page. The author of fightflashfraud will then pass your email address to me.

    If you sell my guide without permission I might just sue your arse off!

    Helen R

    March 14, 2009 at 6:38 pm

  10. The last sd card I got from ebay was genuine. However, three out of the four previous ones were fake. I asked them explicitly if they were fake and they still sent them.

    One I bought was obviously fake and I sent the seller a whole load of abuse. He sent me a refund without even returning the item. Guess he didn’t want the negative feedback

    Colin coupland

    March 21, 2009 at 1:13 pm

  12. [...] on Ebay Comment on Ebay seller niuren2008 de-registered and listings removed by fightflashfraudComment on Guide to fake flash by Sony Upgrades Kingston DataTraveler DTI/2GB To 64GB – The Dark Sid…Comment on Ebay seller niuren2008 de-registered and listings removed by DSComment on MP Players eBay [...]

    16GB USB Flash Drive Sony MicroVault DataTraveler Wholesale $11 US Fake Counterfeits Cheap - Brand Name Confusion! « Flashchiptutor’s Flash Drive Facts

    April 7, 2009 at 11:10 pm

  13. [...] Free Fake Flash Guide Download From Fighting flash fraud on Ebay [...]

    Sony Upgrades Kingston DataTraveler DTI/2GB To 64GB - Scams And Fraudsters! « Fighting flash fraud on Ebay

    April 8, 2009 at 6:16 am

  14. [...] for Fighting flash fraud on Ebay Comment on Guide to fake flash by Sony Upgrades Kingston DataTraveler DTI/2GB To 64GB – Scams And Fr…Comment on Guide to fake flash by 16GB USB Flash Drive Sony MicroVault DataTraveler Wholesale $11 US [...]

    32GB Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler USB Flash Drive Counterfeits - Current Wholesale Costs For Fakes « Flashchiptutor’s Flash Drive Facts

    April 8, 2009 at 10:59 pm

  15. [...] for Fighting flash fraud on Ebay Comment on Guide to fake flash by 32GB Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler USB Flash Drive Counterfeits…Comment on Guide to fake flash by Sony Upgrades Kingston DataTraveler DTI/2GB To 64GB – Scams And [...]

    BEWARE of FAKE 8GB 16GB 32GB 64GB USB Flash Drives - The Most Famous And Oldest Fake Still Sold On eBay And Internet Sites « Flashchiptutor’s Flash Drive Facts

    April 9, 2009 at 3:49 am

  16. [...] removed by Louis G.Comment on Ebay seller niuren2008 de-registered and listings removed by DSComment on Guide to fake flash by BEWARE of FAKE 8GB 16GB 32GB 64GB USB Flash Drives – The Most Famo…Comment on Guide to fake flash by 32GB Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler USB Flash Drive Counterfeits [...]

    Wholesale Prices For Fake Sony Kingston Counterfeit USB Flash Drives 16GB 32GB 64Gb 120GB 240GB 360GB 500GB « Flashchiptutor’s Flash Drive Facts

    April 19, 2009 at 6:52 am

  17. Thanks for the info. I ran across this website and almost placed an order. You might want to check it out.

    Max Taylor

    May 6, 2009 at 7:34 pm

  18. We are aware of the website you mentioned. We have removed the link to the website as we do not want to risk helping anyone to commit fraud! It’s a difficult call but we have found that some people, rather than steering clear of such websites are actually looking for them. These are desperate times – many are in finacial trouble and this brings out the worst in people.

    fightflashfraud

    May 6, 2009 at 8:38 pm

  19. Comments for the next Version of Helen’s document

    Some suggestions.

    On the subject of Genuine Kingston Drives.
    Kingston has expanded the capacity range of the DataTraveler 101 product. It now includes a 16GB drive. (http://www.kingston.com/flash/dt101.asp_
    For an up to date listing of current Kingston Flash products readers should look at
    http://www.kingston.com/flash/default.asp
    Colour may not be 100% indicator that a Kingston drive is counterfeit. Kingston provides customs colours, for resale under the Kingston name, to Dell and other vendors.
    Kingston Asia, has published an Website for verifying the authenticity of their products. The website address is http://www.kingston.com/asia/verifyflash/. This webpage shows what the back of a valid Kingston flash memory product looks like. If the product that you purchased did not come in package with a UPC Bar Code, Authentication code, and License key, then you should suspect that the drive you purchased is a counterfeit. Note, Kingston, could confirm that the drive authentication codes is invalid, and you thereby have purchased a counterfeit drive. A valid authentication code, does not imply that the drive is authentic, as the counterfeiters may be copying valid codes or creating valid codes by reverse engineering the Kingston code generation process, as had been done for Microsoft product authorisation keys.
    Another post on the subject of authentication code verication:
    http://fakeflashnews.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/kingston-counterfeit-fake-32gb-datatraveler-150-usb-flash-drive-found-on-ebay/

    Randy

    May 7, 2009 at 9:36 pm

  20. Hi Helen,

    A message for you- I have cited you in an article with a a thumbnail pop up of the cover of your guide and a link to this site for people who want to download it. I put copyright 2006 Helen MP Rose on the text for the thumbnail.

    It is for an article on How to identify fake flash drives before you make a purchase, as a follow up to my article on Is there really a 128gb drive? http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/33110.aspx , from a couple months ago, now that some real 128GB drives have been announced.

    Rebecca

    Rebecca Scudder

    June 25, 2009 at 1:02 am

  21. Hi Rebecca and everyone,
    I am in process of updating my guide to fake flash – all being well it will be available next week.

    Helen

    June 25, 2009 at 9:09 am

  22. I would REALLY like to hear Kingston and Sony or other flash makers’ take on all this since it’s their reputation and profits that are getting royally ripped here. Maybe if they truly understood their loses they might help us out in a stand at getting eBay and PayPal to hold some responsibility! When this kind of thing happens with Disney their lawyers are on you like white on rice at the first whiff! Really, I’d join a class action against eBay/PayPal in a heartbeat, but I’d like for the the biggie victims — Kingston & Co — to take a more forward stand. I hope it doesn’t take some horrible industrial accident or patients dying as a result from corrupted data in a fake flash with Kingston’s proud name on it to get them moving! Remember Tylenol?

    James Greenidge
    NY

    James Greenidge

    June 25, 2009 at 11:41 am

  23. I just wanted to report that the same thing is occurring with RAM memory sticks (for internal use in PCs).
    A friend bought rare premium IBM brand memory sticks for his Thinkpad, which were pictured in the ebay item with an IBM product sticker.
    What arrived had Kingston stickers and did not work in his Thinkpad, so he was able to get the seller to send the originally promised IBM brand memory sticks.
    Except that what arrived were identical sticks with BOTH the Kingston stickers and the IBM brand stickers and they did not work in his IBM Thinkpad.
    He then did a web search on the Kingston number and it was for a DESKTOP memory stick rather than the laptop memory stick it was on.
    Clearly they are simply printing name brand stickers to put on cheap generic memory sticks.
    The incident parallels another one reported on your site in that the return address was in Hong Kong, but the seller asked the items to be returned to Guandong – exactly the same as the comment on this site. Of course, he is not returning counterfeit items.

    Dude

    July 5, 2009 at 7:38 pm

  24. Oh, you can see a similar fake item on ebay right now at:

    http://i.ebayimg.com/14/!BUrj10!BGk~$(KGrHgoH-DoEjlLlw14UBKOsg)o2gQ~~_1.JPG

    A Thinkpad expert has told us that the IBM part number does not correspond to those chips, and the stick will not work in the Thinkpads that need that part number.

    Dude

    July 5, 2009 at 7:41 pm

  26. I bought 2 pcs USB 500GB from Dhgate.com, i tried to move the movies file 1G from my laptop to my desktop but it did not work, i have to use Recover My Files to save my data..Pls people tell me what to do =(

    aaron 123

    August 20, 2009 at 9:12 pm

  27. To aaron 123
    The largest genuine USB flash drive currently available is 256GB. The site you bought from is notorious for fraud and you have been sold a fake. If it is the one I think it is the real capacity is probably no more than 2GB. The only thing worth doing is to try to get your money back.

    fightflashfraud

    August 21, 2009 at 8:54 am


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