Prometheus
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 9,472
I just thought I'd post this in light of another recent thread, as the matter of fake SD Cards and USB flash drives is shockingly widespread. Anyone who follows SOSFakeFlash will likely know all of this (and probably more), but I just wanted to make a quick checklist available for reference.
For those unaware: Fake flash media is what you get when fraudsters sell flash memory that has had its controller hardware hacked in order to make it report a false size to the operating system. Which operating system makes no difference - because the controller itself is lying, it will fool any operating system. Sellers of this memory sometimes call it "upgraded", but it really is no such thing. Fake flash media often includes counterfeit flash media as well - fake-capacity flash drives and memory cards, which carry fake brand name labels and casings.
Some tips for avoiding fake flash media are as follows;
1: Avoid eBay. This cannot be stated enough. The majority of false capacity flash media is bought and sold here, and this is recorded as having been a problem on eBay since at least 2003, if not before. As a precautionary measure, you may also want to avoid third-party sellers who sell via sites such as Amazon and Play.com. Whilst many of these are honest businesses, there have been times when fakes have been sold via these facilities.
2: Snap yourself out of the mindset that fake flash media is in any way similar to fake handbags or the fake Nikes you saw at the Sunday market. Whilst fake handbags or fake shoes in some way perform as handbags and shoes would be expected to, fake flash media does not. Fake flash media lies about its capacity - what may be claiming to be 32GB, 64GB, 512GB, or any other size, is most likely actually only 64MB to 2GB in actual size, and likely to be made with unreliable parts, which in many cases may have been meant for destruction due to not being up to the required standards in the first place. You will never be able to trust these chips with your data - you are practically guaranteed to lose it.
3: Educate yourself as to what is a reasonable price. Whilst many people (sadly, incorrectly) believe that low prices on eBay are a result of "cutting out the middle-man", an unfortunately high number of people fall into the trap of believing one, or both, of two widespread myths. Myth one is "Companies make their products for small amounts and only charge high prices in order to rip us off.". Myth two is "Flash prices are always falling.". The profit margins on genuine flash media are actually quite slim unless you can move in high volumes, and the poor economy has hit flash manufacturers badly - for the last couple of years, prices have risen a number of times, and, more recently, stayed put for a little while (but soon began to rise again). You can get a handle on the spot prices for flash chips by looking here. Bear in mind that if you see Gb this means Gigabit, NOT Gigabyte (GB)! Likewise, Mb means Megabit, not Megabyte (MB). You must divide it by eight to get the size in GB or MB. Also note that some of the spot prices are for flash chips only - you also need to factor in the cost of casings, controller hardware, packaging, and so on. Regardless, this should help to give you a rough idea of what the retail price should be like. You can also look at the prices of a known-safe retailer of genuine goods to get an idea, too - Amazon UK and Play.com will give you this idea if you're from the UK, and I'm sure members from elsewhere can provide good companies to refer to for their respective countries, as well.
4: Because there is always a chance of fakes getting into even the best supply chain, regardless of where you buy your flash media you should always test your flash purchases with H2testw (a program for Microsoft Windows, which will also run via WINE on x86 Linux and probably via WINE on x86 Mac OS X as well), or its open source, command-line-based equivalent (currently only tested on Ubuntu), F3. (I don't have the know-how to see whether F3 can be made to run on the Pandora, but this may be worth a look for someone who can make it work.
)
5: Beware of terms such as "upgraded"/"upgraded memory", and similar. These are, without exception, used by vendors of false-capacity flash media (often via wholesale sites that they are using to offer these items to resellers) to point out that the controller chips have been hacked to lie about the size of the flash chips they're coupled with.
6: Often, if the price seems too good to be true, it is! However, some vendors of fake flash media are cottoning on to this, and are charging real flash prices for their fake goods. If you think that £200 is a lot for a genuine flash drive, consider how much more it is for a fake!
7: Always use a credit card for flash media purchases, because credit card companies are more protective of their customers than some online payment services are.
8: If you somehow end up with a fake flash item, please report it to SOSFakeFlash, following their instructions carefully (bear in mind that they cover more than just eBay), and then fight for a refund. If you bought it on eBay and have already left positive feedback, DO NOT change your feedback in order to get a refund if your seller asks you to, because it will just invite others to be scammed in the same way as you were - moreover, this is feedback extortion, which I gather is against eBay's rules. Leave follow-up feedback instead, documenting the truth. If you can leave negative feedback, do so, and if you can mention the terms SOSFakeFlash and H2testw, your feedback may be able to guide more victims to resources that can help them.
I hope this post proves to be useful to someone. I wish the best of luck to all of you in avoiding this issue.
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with SOSFakeFlash, and have thankfully never fallen victim to this problem myself (thanks to the efforts of folks like them documenting it in the first place!). I am just a bystander who is disgusted by the notion of people having their hard-earned money ripped off in such a way.
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For those unaware: Fake flash media is what you get when fraudsters sell flash memory that has had its controller hardware hacked in order to make it report a false size to the operating system. Which operating system makes no difference - because the controller itself is lying, it will fool any operating system. Sellers of this memory sometimes call it "upgraded", but it really is no such thing. Fake flash media often includes counterfeit flash media as well - fake-capacity flash drives and memory cards, which carry fake brand name labels and casings.
Some tips for avoiding fake flash media are as follows;
1: Avoid eBay. This cannot be stated enough. The majority of false capacity flash media is bought and sold here, and this is recorded as having been a problem on eBay since at least 2003, if not before. As a precautionary measure, you may also want to avoid third-party sellers who sell via sites such as Amazon and Play.com. Whilst many of these are honest businesses, there have been times when fakes have been sold via these facilities.
2: Snap yourself out of the mindset that fake flash media is in any way similar to fake handbags or the fake Nikes you saw at the Sunday market. Whilst fake handbags or fake shoes in some way perform as handbags and shoes would be expected to, fake flash media does not. Fake flash media lies about its capacity - what may be claiming to be 32GB, 64GB, 512GB, or any other size, is most likely actually only 64MB to 2GB in actual size, and likely to be made with unreliable parts, which in many cases may have been meant for destruction due to not being up to the required standards in the first place. You will never be able to trust these chips with your data - you are practically guaranteed to lose it.
3: Educate yourself as to what is a reasonable price. Whilst many people (sadly, incorrectly) believe that low prices on eBay are a result of "cutting out the middle-man", an unfortunately high number of people fall into the trap of believing one, or both, of two widespread myths. Myth one is "Companies make their products for small amounts and only charge high prices in order to rip us off.". Myth two is "Flash prices are always falling.". The profit margins on genuine flash media are actually quite slim unless you can move in high volumes, and the poor economy has hit flash manufacturers badly - for the last couple of years, prices have risen a number of times, and, more recently, stayed put for a little while (but soon began to rise again). You can get a handle on the spot prices for flash chips by looking here. Bear in mind that if you see Gb this means Gigabit, NOT Gigabyte (GB)! Likewise, Mb means Megabit, not Megabyte (MB). You must divide it by eight to get the size in GB or MB. Also note that some of the spot prices are for flash chips only - you also need to factor in the cost of casings, controller hardware, packaging, and so on. Regardless, this should help to give you a rough idea of what the retail price should be like. You can also look at the prices of a known-safe retailer of genuine goods to get an idea, too - Amazon UK and Play.com will give you this idea if you're from the UK, and I'm sure members from elsewhere can provide good companies to refer to for their respective countries, as well.
4: Because there is always a chance of fakes getting into even the best supply chain, regardless of where you buy your flash media you should always test your flash purchases with H2testw (a program for Microsoft Windows, which will also run via WINE on x86 Linux and probably via WINE on x86 Mac OS X as well), or its open source, command-line-based equivalent (currently only tested on Ubuntu), F3. (I don't have the know-how to see whether F3 can be made to run on the Pandora, but this may be worth a look for someone who can make it work.
)5: Beware of terms such as "upgraded"/"upgraded memory", and similar. These are, without exception, used by vendors of false-capacity flash media (often via wholesale sites that they are using to offer these items to resellers) to point out that the controller chips have been hacked to lie about the size of the flash chips they're coupled with.
6: Often, if the price seems too good to be true, it is! However, some vendors of fake flash media are cottoning on to this, and are charging real flash prices for their fake goods. If you think that £200 is a lot for a genuine flash drive, consider how much more it is for a fake!
7: Always use a credit card for flash media purchases, because credit card companies are more protective of their customers than some online payment services are.
8: If you somehow end up with a fake flash item, please report it to SOSFakeFlash, following their instructions carefully (bear in mind that they cover more than just eBay), and then fight for a refund. If you bought it on eBay and have already left positive feedback, DO NOT change your feedback in order to get a refund if your seller asks you to, because it will just invite others to be scammed in the same way as you were - moreover, this is feedback extortion, which I gather is against eBay's rules. Leave follow-up feedback instead, documenting the truth. If you can leave negative feedback, do so, and if you can mention the terms SOSFakeFlash and H2testw, your feedback may be able to guide more victims to resources that can help them.
I hope this post proves to be useful to someone. I wish the best of luck to all of you in avoiding this issue.
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with SOSFakeFlash, and have thankfully never fallen victim to this problem myself (thanks to the efforts of folks like them documenting it in the first place!). I am just a bystander who is disgusted by the notion of people having their hard-earned money ripped off in such a way.
This post has been promoted to an article
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