Posts Tagged ‘Consumer Watch’
Unbeleivable ebay listing from werner123450_1 for 128GB flash drive
We could hardly credit what we saw when we looked at this ebay listing from werner123450_1. Incredible. Surely no one will be foolish enough to bid on this item?? Or are we overestimating the intelligence of the general public??
We wonder – could this be the suspected counterfeit 128GB Corsair sold by dowi2777 on April 27th as defective (ebay item number 170475697308) on 27th April with the rubberised covering stripped away? Whether or not this listing is for that particular item anyone who bids on this needs their head examining!
We advise everyone who buys flash memory items to test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
Test USB flash drives from ebay seller accseries with h2testw
We have a feeling that UK seller accseries made the mistake of buying these USB flash drives from one of the fraudulent suppliers that sell fakes. If we are right then this USB flash drive will fail testing with h2testw because it is fake capacity and a fake capacity USB flash drive corrupts files after a while. The seller probably has no idea these could be fakes.
We advise everyone who buys flash memory items to test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you (or your customers, if you are a seller) run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
yanglinshop – an ebay fraud ID in China selling fake flash drives
Beware!! Avoid ebay seller yanglinshop. This is an ebay fraud ID in China used to sell fake flash memory which corrupts files amongst other rubbish that falls apart or doesn’t work according to what we read in the seller’s feedback. This ID no doubt belongs to one of the familiar fraud rings operating on ebay out of China.
Seller yanglinshop is one of the more devious sellers of fake capacity flash memory. The listing in which this fake capacity USB flash drive which corrupts files was sold was private all this seller’s listings seem to be. This is a cunning way of hiding what anyone who leaves negative feedback is complaining about! Never buy flash memory on ebay if the listing is private – you are fairly certain to get a fake that trashes your data!
We advise everyone who buys flash memory items to test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
Upcoming article about Internet fraud for Which? magazine
A freelance journalist has contacted us because he is planning to write an article about fraud on the Internet for Which? magazine. He is writing it from a consumer perspective and is interested in hearing from victims of fake flash fraud.
If anyone would like to speak to him about their experience, please leave a comment on this post and we will pass your email address on to him – we have not made his email address public and we will not make yours public either!
Are UK ebay seller’s 16GB Sandisk flash drives genuine or fake?
If this 16GB Sandisk USB flash drive (ebay item number 260560939485) listed on ebay UK by shamjeth1 is genuine then the seller is taking a big risk by listing at auction with a 99p start. Most flash memory sold at auction on ebay fetches below wholesale price so anyone selling like this risks making a loss.
Seller shamjeth1 was lucky last time he or she sold one (item number 260557243135 sold on 28th February) as it went for £18.00 so the inflated postage costs (£4.95) mean the seller would not have made a loss on that occasion. However, had the drive sold for much less, shamjeth1 would have made a loss if it was genuine. We may be wrong – but we have a lurking suspicion that this may not be a genuine Sandisk.
We advise everyone who buys flash memory items to test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
What in the heck is a refurbished USB flash drive we wonder?
Top rated ebay seller fashionuniononline advertises these flash drives on ebay as “refurbished” – we wonder what the heck a refurbished flash drive is!
We know what a refurbished computer is – it is one that has been used and has then had any faulty parts replaced and been returned to a fully functional state (though of course not brand new) – the seller says:
4GB SanDisk Micro USB Flash Drive (Refurb but new) with a 5 year Warranty
*Please be Aware these are Refurbished Pen Drive. The have the word ‘Refurb’ stamped on the Pen Drive to show they are refurb. The performance of the card is equal to a new one but they only come without packaging.
Something cannot be refurbished AND new – it is either a used refurbished item or it is a new item! You cannot “refurbish” a flash drive! You can manually delete any user files or reformat it to remove all previous data (in which case as far as this model is concerned the U3 will be lost) – you cannot “refurbish” it! This ebay seller’s sales pitch seems a bit dodgy to us. Maybe one of us will buy one and check it out.
We advise everyone who buys flash memory items to test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
UPDATE 18/O2/2010
A member of the fightflashfraud team bought one of these from fashionuniononline and we are amazed to report that the buyer tells us it passed testing with h2testw. The item was indeed marked as refurbished – something we have never come across before with USB flash drives. We are flummoxed about what exactly is meant by refurbished in this context and we still have some doubts about these.
1GB flash drive with free upgrade to 2GB?? We don’t think so!
What on earth does seller discjunkie_2008 mean by free upgrade to 2GB?? You can’t upgrade a flash drive. It’s either a 1GB flash drive or it’s a 2GB flash drive!!
As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Hong Kong seller with Data Traveler in private ebay auctions
The use of private auctions by seller jk_holdings makes us think these DataTraveler flash drives may be counterfeit and fake capacity. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
If these flash drives are genuine why are the ebay listings private?
If these flash drives from ebay seller alam2012 are genuine why did this ebayer swap to private listings? People who do this usually have something to hide.
As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Are these swivel type drives genuinely 32GB or not?
If these drives listed by UK ebay member valuedeals2008 are genuine the seller risks making a loss by selling them at auction. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Seems like yet another new fraud ID registered on ebay China
This flash drive is too cheap to be genuine – we suspect lwz_lwz is yet another ID set up by Chinese fraud gangs. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Another ebay seller in China pretending items are in the UK
Here we have another seller based in China with items at a price too cheap to be genuine pretending that the goods are in the UK to fool unwary buyers. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Can this seller make a profit if these flash drives are genuine?
We can’t see how the seller can be making any profit if these are genuine. By the time you take listing fees, final value fees, post and packing costs and paypal fees into account there doesn’t seem to be any margin left. This make us wonder if these are fake capacity. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Familiar 16GB flash drive sold by yet another ebayer in China
The flash drive pictured here is very familiar to members of the frankenflash project and we suspect that sunnyshop18 is an alternate ID for a familiar fraud gang. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
64GB USB flash drive from ebayer in the USA seems a bit cheap
This flash drive listed by psy2069 seems a bit too cheap to be genuine 64GB, even for a generic drive. As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
More familiar suspect drives from yet another ebay ID in China
Yawn! Yet another listing of the frausters’ favourite flash drive – easy to take apart, easy to reprogram to a false capacity. We expect that the drives listed by junjie_75 will as usual be fake capacity causing user’s files to become corrupted and vanish. We suspect this is yet another ID belonging to a familiar fraud gang. As always we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
This 16GB flash drive from China seems too cheap to be genuine
We don’t think anyone could possibly sell a genuine 16GB flash drive for £10.58 with free P&P on ebay and break even. This leads us to conclude that gaojizhang is probably yet another fraud ID set up by one of the old familiar fraud gangs in China.
As usual we strongly advise ebayers to test all flash memory with the free program h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
UPDATE 11 AUGUST
This seller has been suspended from ebay for selling these fakes – get your refund claims in quick!
Fake 128GB DataTraveler 200 withdrawn from sale on ebay
Just who did the seller that listed this item as a 128GB Kingston DataTraveler 200 think he was fooling? Certainly not the team at fightflashfraud.
The Kingston DatatTraveler 200 was only announced on June 15th and already someone tried to cash in. The DT200 looks nothing like this picture. An ebay member asked the seller a question about the fact that it looked nothing like a DT200 and got this answer:
This was actually a prototype design release, that’s why it looks like a quite generic Kingston design. It’s actually horrendously rare and you will probably never see one again that looks like this. Despite what I have just said that is purely the design, the technical features and memory remain exactly the same.
So it’s an experimental model is it? Is this person claiming to be a Kingston insider? If he is a Kingston employee we think he will quickly be out of a job! Is our Australian friend telling us that he walked into the Kingston labs and pocketed an experimental drive without being challenged? Wait a minute… that doesn’t add up with what was said in the body of the listing! In the body of the listing it said:
“Brand new and packaged this device is ready to go from a trusted Australian Seller.”
Ahem! Companies do not package their experimental models and sell them off! We are glad the seller had the good sense to remove the item from sale before he landed himself in some very hot water indeed. The seller was right about one thing – the rarity of such an item being listed on ebay! Rarely are people quite so stupid or bold as to list such an outrageously obvious fake!
Ebay sellers – please don’t think you can get away with listing outrageous fakes like this. Members of our team are watching you. Ebay and Paypal’s ability (or more likely, willingness) to spot fakes and try to protect buyers from fraud may be non-existent but ours isn’t.
test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
Are the flash drives sold by this UK ebayer genuine?
UK based ebay seller has sold a number of different models of 8GB flash drive. We have no idea whether these are the real deal or not but the fact that buyer IDs are not shown at the end of auctions makes us slightly suspicious. This makes us wonder if the seller has something to hide. This may not be the case, only time (and buyers testing their drives with h2testw) will reveal whether drives sold by jpsupplies-uk are genuine or not.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Is this a genuine flash drive from China?
Is this flash drive from a new seller registered in China genuine we wonder? Was seller ryalkiwmnd268 willing to risk making a loss on the first item listed in order to get good feedback? Was this done to build up an honest business? At the moment we don’t know. We would like to hear from the buyer – it would be nice to find a genuine seller in China but somehow we think we will probably be disappointed. Buyers – test all flash drives purchased on ebay with h2testw.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Large number of 16GB and 32GB drives listed by new seller
No less than 98 16GB and 32GB flash drives have been listed at auction with a start price of 99 cents by new USA ebay seller taiwanhid. The two drives are pictured below – the 32GB on the left and the 16GB on the right.
If these drives are genuinely the capacities claimed the seller is taking a huge risk and could lose hundreds of dollars if people don’t bid above the wholesale cost. Would you take such a risk? We wouldn’t. If you bought a flash drive from this seller we suggest you test it with h2testw as soon as it arrives.
Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.
Dancing Hello Kitty a suspect flash drive from kineticmuaythai
What does kineticmuaythai mean by upgrade? We think this means program the drive to be even more fake.
UK seller moneyworx11 sells massive fake capacity flash drive
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Yet again a seller in the uk has listed a non-existent capacity drive. Can we stress yet again that there is NO SUCH THING AS A 120GB USB FLASH DRIVE
The seller, moneyworx11, may be a deliberate fraudster as buyer IDs are being kept private. |
Deliberate fraud is not the only issue – so is faulty memory!!
It has been brought to the attention of fightflashfraud that a UK seller (not, it seems, a deliberate fraudster) has recently sold faulty USB flash drives on ebay. The ones the seller had used were fine so the seller thought (when a buyer complained that the two tested with h2testw failed) that the buyer was up to something – an understandable suspicion!
We can assure the seller the buyer is completely honest and is not doing anything other than trying to protect people from losing valuable files! She has reported to us that 5 out of the 10 flash drives she bought from the seller in question were faulty. This doesn’t really affect her (other than the fact that she wasted her money) but it could affect anyone who saves files to a faulty item from this seller – they could lose their files! She is hoping to make the seller understand the issue rather than drag him through the mire.
SELLLERS – PLEASE TEST YOUR DRIVES WITH H2TESTW
Ebay seller net-monsters kept buyer ID’s private in buy it now
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UK based seller net-monsters kept buyer ID’s private while selling what appear to be fake 64GB USB flash drives in a buy it now. You should never buy flash memory items from a seller who does this. IDs being kept private are a strong indicator of deliberate fraud. Sellers of fake flash drives do not hide your ID for your protection – they do it to protect themselves.
This seller was informed that the item was likely to be a fake – not a 64GB drive but a much smaller one fraudulently programmed to fool the operating system. The seller ignored the ebay member who sent the message – an indication that the seller was probably well aware of this fact. As ever, buyers should test with h2testw. |
Flash drives with Sony’s Vaio trademark on them are fake.
For the information of all buyers: The Sony trademark name Vaio is used only for laptops – it is not (and never has been) used for other items such as USB flash drives. Any flash drive displaying this name is an illegal counterfeit. Not only that – it is fake capacity and you will lose your files after a while if you buy a flash drive like the one below:
Drives like this are produced by fraudsters who program the control chip to display any capacity they like to the operating system. Use one and you will eventually lose your files. Do not buy a flash drive if you see the Vaio name either on the packaging or the drive itself!!
We advise everyone who buys flash memory items to test them with the free program h2testw irrespective of where they were purchased – otherwise you run the risk of data loss and corruption.
Report your fake if testing confirms you have purchased fake capacity flash memory on ebay.
An ebay member lists yet another fake 64GB flash drive
Ebay member rexiho1987; registered on ebay since 4th Nov 2008 has 4 listings for fake 64GB flash drives. Although the listing does not mention Sony the photograph is a smaller version of the photo previously used by irena-ebai and the original picture clearly shows the words Sony and microvault. An ebayer has sent a message to the seller warning that the drives are fake. Here is the seller’s picture:
Here is the original picture used by irena-ebai:
Is this an innocent seller (in which case why make the picture so tiny that you can’t read what it says on the packaging?) or a fraudster trying to obscure the evidence? We await developments.
UPDATE 17/02/06 AT 5.54PM
Although this seller never responded to the ebayer who warned the drives were fake, rexiho1987 removed the listings before there were any bids. This could either be because rexiho1987 knows they have been caught out or because the seller found out that the ebayer was right. Usually honest sellers respond to an ebayer who warns them so fightflashfraud suspects that it is simply that rexiho1987 realised the game was up. The seller is welcome to respond to this post.
Warning tech12342008 is selling 64GB Kingston FLASH DRIVE MEMORY on Ebay
eBay seller tech12342008 is currently listing Kingston 64GB USB Flash drives for sale on ebay. The model shown is is only made up to a capacity of 32GB.
Kingston does not put sticky labels for sizes on their usb flash drives. It will be properly engraved. If you have purchased a usb flash drive from this seller, please test it immediately using the software H2testw 1.4. If you do not have the advertised capacity report to SOSfakeflash using the report a fake tab at SOSfakeflash.wordpress.com.
Ebayer who has neither bought nor sold anything suspended!
An ebayer who was new to ebay and has neither bought not sold anything has been suspended for sending a few warning messages to ebayers who bought fake flash on ebay. The excuse for suspending the ebayer’s account was that the ebayer might be sending spam messages or trying to sell something outside ebay. Fightfakeflash can state categorically (having already been in contact with this ebayer about the fake flash issue before the suspension) that this is not the case. It could be that ebay is worried about abuse of their database – fightflashfraud urges ebay to check the activities of those whose accounts they suspend – some of them are actually those who are trying to make ebay safer!
Read the rest of this entry »
Suspect seller rongcle stops listing – we need fraud evidence!
Ebay seller rongcle has been suspected of fraud since joning ebay at the beginning of December. Despite some negative feedback that suggests that drives are fake capacity and one Ebayer reporting to fightflashfraud that a drive failed a test with h2testw no details of an item with test results have been received to date. This seller has probably realised that the game may be up and is lying low – but without hard evidence the seller can not be added to the database. Hard evidence of fraud is needed before a seller can be anything more than a suspect – just as in a legal case. If you bought a flash drive from this seller and have test results showing that it failed testing with h2testw please report your fake! – only when we have concrete evidence can a seller be added to the fraudster list.
Ignorance is not bliss master-of-sales: a foolish Israeli ebayer
Ebayer master-of-sales does not seem to have fully understood the messages sent to him by an ebayer in the UK about item number 270332268593. The ebayer who warned ther might be a problem was alerted by the typical packaging for fake capacity flash drives and factory rejects sold on ebay a while back.
Drives sold using this packaging have proved to be either fake capacity (fraudulently reprogrammed) or faulty drives that should have been destroyed at the factory. The test results for this item (which master-of-sales sent to this ebayer) were passed to fightflashfraud. The results indicate that the item is a faulty drive that should have been destroyed, not (as the ebayer who contacted the seller first thought) a fake capacity drive.
On investigating this ebayer’s feedback it was apparent that master-of-sales had bought from some well known fraudsters. The ebayer who had contacted master-of sales warned the seller to test all drives and end listings for any drives that failed testing with h2testw.
The listing by master-of-sales (which shows no information about sales or buyers) spotted by this ebayer was not cancelled. This may simply be foolishness on the part of the seller or it could be deliberate fraud. Here is a screenshot of the listing provided by the ebayer who warned the seller about the item:
Is it safe to shop on ebay? – The problem with ebay/paypal
The answer to this question can be either yes or no – it depends on what you want to buy, how well informed you are about the items you want to buy, and whether the seller is trustworthy or not. I have bought video cameras, computers, jewellery, software and all sorts of items on ebay and been in touch with (by email or in person) some lovely people – I love the ebay idea – it’s brilliant. However, in practice, all the ebay/paypal (same company) promises about safe shopping mean nothing.
Fraudsters selling fake items are left to continue selling until lots of ebayers start reporting the fraud and claiming refunds – even then (because ebay/paypal run mostly on automated systems) action is slow – do you think the email you got from ebay/paypal came from a human being? It was probably sent automatically from a computer program (a robot). See sosfakeflash for how to get past the robots. If you bought fake flash on Ebay do not give up on getting a refund – fight to the end. Only by hitting ebay/paypal and the fraudsters in the pocket can we stop this fraud on ebay.
Alert! Fraudsters selling reprogrammed Kingston drives
New sellers (probably well known fraudsters using new IDs) are advertising 16GB flash drives which seem to be fraudulently re-programmed 2GB Kingston drives have appeared recently on Ebay. They do not mention the brand name in listing (though it is clearly shown in the larger picture) to avoid detection. Be aware that some ranges of Kingston drives (such as Kingston mini fun and the data traveller type shown below) are colour coded according to their capacity. If you see the picture below in a listing for a 16GB drive then it is certainly a fake capacity drive – we have the evidence – test results! If you bought one of these please send test results, seller ID and item number to sosfakeflash@gmail.com and use this information to claim a refund through paypal. You should also report this fraud to both Ebay and Kingston – if ebay is pursued through the courts by Kingston over allowing this fraud you can be sure it will end quickly!
See the page about Kingston data traveller of this type for more info.
How people get away with flash fraud on ebay
The flash memory sold by ebay fraudsters generally has a very much lower capacity than stated – sometimes as little as a sixteenth of that advertised. These drives have been programmed using the same tools as the manufactures use to program drives of genuine capacity. 1GB of flash memory can be programmed by fraudsters to appear to be 4GB, 8GB, 16GB or even higher capacities using these tools.
Fake 16GB Kingston Data Traveller
What appear to be 2GB Kingston flash drives seem to have been re-programmed by fraudsters and sold on Ebay as 16GB drives by a number of sellers. Before you bid on flash drives where pictures show a brand name (especially if the brand is not mentioned in the listing title!) you should check the manufacturer’s web site to establish that the model shown is genuinely of the claimed capacity.
