How Did kingstonusbcf.com Get Reported As A Seller Of Counterfeit Kingston USB Flash Drives?

Victims of false capacity usb flash drives search the internet for information and help. Google searches have sponsored links to help pay for providing you with a free internet search service. The website kingstonusbcf.com used the sponsored links service to rise high in searches. So how did this seller get caught? You will find this interesting.

A chance to vote for more ebay fraud??

We expect all ebay members in Europe have received a message from ebay recently entitled:

Demand an end to unfair trade practices

It seems to us that signing the petition mentioned in this email would be voting for more fraud on ebay!! Here is the text of the message in question – decide for yourselves whose interests ebay is acting in with this petition:

eBay was built on a simple idea – that we could empower people by building a global trading platform where practically anyone could buy or sell practically anything. But that idea is now under threat from certain brand owners and manufacturers who are trying to turn back the clock and block the sale of their products on online marketplaces and other websites across the EU.

Ultimately, what is at stake is the right of sellers to compete fairly in the wider online marketplace, and the right of buyers to be able to access the best possible deals from the widest possible selection of goods.

Some of these brand owners argue that their objective is to revent the sale of counterfeits on eBay.
But thanks to our work with 31,000 other rights owners, only 0.15% of listings last year were detected or
reported as potentially counterfeit. The real aim of these brands is to block the sale of all their products
on our site – regardless of whether such items are new or second-hand, genuine or fake. It’s not just luxury items that are affected, but also everyday items like children’s toys, electronic equipment, lawnmowers and
pushchairs. And if we want to prevent other brand owners from following suit, we need to act now.

We are therefore calling on European policymakers to amend EU competition law to stop these unfair
trade practices. But we need your help to persuade them to take action. If you would like to join our
campaign against online trade barriers, please sign our petition.

Regards,
Your eBay Team

Hmm – let’s have a look at this:

eBay was built on a simple idea – that we could empower people by building a global trading platform where practically anyone could buy or sell practically anything.

We’ve noticed that ebay doesn’t seem to care what you sell as long as you can get away with it! They probably wouldn’t mind if you sold Kalashnikovs, anthrax or nuclear warheads if they thought they could make a profit and nobody powerful would object. They certainly don’t seem to have much objection to fake capacity flash memory.

…that idea is now under threat from certain brand owners and manufacturers who are trying to turn back the clock…

Which brand owners might they be referring to? Not Kingston and Sony by any chance – these are the two main brands who have been affected by the plague of fake flash on ebay. It is doing damage to their brands as well as damage to buyers’ data and they have been putting pressure on ebay to remove fraudulent listings and Internet service providers to remove fraudulent websites – could this be part of ebay’s motivation? Do they forsee the end of fake flash profits if the brands succeed in getting counterfeits off the Internet? Are they wondering how they will survive without the fraudsters now that genuine ebayers are deserting in droves, disgusted with the treatment they got at the hands of ebay/paypal?

Ultimately, what is at stake is the right of sellers to compete fairly in the wider online marketplace…

Is selling counterfeit and fake capacity flash memory at low prices to ebay members fair competition with those selling the genuine article? Genuine sellers must charge much higher prices and pay much higher ebay and paypal fees – they lose sales to fraudsters and cannot make a profit. Is this what ebay calls fair competition?

…right of buyers to be able to access the best possible deals…

This must be why ebay tolerates fake capacity flash then – no genuine seller can afford to advertise a 64GB flash drive for £50 including postage. It seems that most people buying them don’t really need a high capacity drive anyway, they just want to boast to their friends – so it doesn’t really matter if it’s only really 2GB does it?

After all, anyone who really did need to store this much data would discover the truth fairly quickly anyway. Of course if someone is foolish enough to back up valuable files to a fake in order to format the hard drive… Just in case you are wondering, this did in fact happen to someone. A heartbreaking disaster.

Some of these brand owners argue that their objective is to revent the sale of counterfeits on eBay.

Some of these brand owners argue that their objective it to revent? argue? Someone has taken the p here!

only 0.15% of listings last year were detected or reported as potentially counterfeit

Could it be that the figure is so low because ebay’s fraud detection methods are useless and many ebayers got sick of wasting their time pointing out all the counterfeits (let alone any other type of fraud) to ebay and finding that they did nothing? We suspect this may have a lot to do with it! We’d also like to ask if this means that ebay thinks it is acceptable that counterfeits can be listed as long as it’s only a small proportion?

…everyday items like children’s toys, electronic equipment, lawnmowers and pushchairs.

We notice that flash memory doesn’t get a mention here – now why might that be we wonder? However, let’s have a look at what they do mention:

Children’s toys – would you want to find that your child’s toy was a cheap counterfeit of a major manufacturer’s toy produced without consideration of safety standards?
Electronic equipment – how happy would you be if you found that the electronic equipment in your house was never put through the testing required to ensure safety and reliability?
Lawn mowers – How would you feel if your lawnmower caused an injury to yourself, your partner or someone else because it was a cheap shoddy copy that developed a dangerous fault?
Pushchairs – Would you want to entrust your child to a poorly manufactured and potentially dangerous pushchair??

This seems to be what you will be voting for if you agree their petition, and that’s without considering fake flash memory that causes students to lose important coursework, families to lose video and photographs of family events like birthdays or weddings – let alone more serious consequences for some self employed people as well as those working in industry, commerce, government etc.

We are therefore calling on European policymakers to amend EU competition law to stop these unfair
trade practices. But we need your help to persuade them to take action. If you would like to join our
campaign against online trade barriers, please sign our petition.

Perhaps we need a counter-petition to be sent to policymakers asking them to institute laws that hold sites like ebay responsible for listings and allows for them to be shut down and prosecuted if they tolerate fraud!

WE CALL ON EBAY TO START ACTING RESPONSIBLY AND PUT AN END TO FRAUD ON THEIR SITES!

We may have found a genuine 128GB Kingston on ebay Australia

This could possibly be the real thing. The seller states in the listing for this:
Most items take 1-2 days to deliver depending on location.
This is however, not a stocked item so please allow 5-7 days deliver.

This statement along with the fact that the price is not wildly below the RRP (so may be possible if the seller is only taking a very small profit margin) makes us think that there is a chance that this is a genuine 128GB flash drive. The big question here is whether the seller will get them in time to meet the planned delivery schedule. We think he could run into problem unless he ordered them as soon as they were announced as there is quite a waiting list.

We hope to find that the macmemex does manage to deliver and that they are genuine – if so we will put out the flags! We are sick to death of seeing fakes on ebay – it will be great if we have a genuine seller here!
Buyers will be able to check with Kingston to verify their flash drives are genuine as each one has an individual serial number.

How Fraud is allowed on Ebay. The Case of Seller digitalting0303 Who Uses Private Auctions To Evade Detection

Do you wonder how fraud is permitted on eBay? How it is possible for those who wish to cheap and fraud buyers, get away with it? Recently SOSFakeFlash Published on a documented seller, digitalting0303. There is a lot of money made in selling false capacity MP Players, Usb flash drives and memory cards. digitalting0303 is a perfect example of how it is possible and how such sellers continue on eBay.

With permission from SOSFakeFlash we are reprinting their article, published on July 4th, 2009:

 

digitalting0303 , registered in Hong Kong, is a seller of fake (false capacity) usb flash drives, memory cards and is now offering MP Players! This seller defies eBay and is very skilled in fraud. The only thing digitalting0303 is interested in, is your money. This seller was caught by SOSFakeFlash in October 2008. Soon eBay suspended this id. Nothing was done to contact the buyers of the fake 32GB flash drives eBay to warn people about these dangerous usb flash drives that would lead to data loss.

Members of the FrankenFlash Project, patrol for sellers suspended. Why? As soon as the suspension is over they return to their old ways. The profit is good and they do not care what happens to you or your data. On June 15, 2009 SOSFakeFlash issued a new alert: digitalting0303 Ebay Fake Flash Seller High Alert Devious – Hong Kong digitalting0303, learned from his previous mistakes and began using private auctions to avoid detection (eBay Private Auction Listings – eBay Fake Flash Sellers Prefer – Victims Learn The Meaning The Hard Way – A Guide ).

This way, digitalting0303 could continue in selling fake flash items and avoid detection. digitalting0303 demonstrates just how easy it is for a fraudster to use eBay!

If you are a victim of digitalting0303, you have a choice to make. Let this seller continue to harm others and keep your money or teach him a lesson. The choice is yours. See: Escalation In False Capacity USB Fake Memory eBay! SOSFakeFlash News July 3rd, 2009

Do not expect eBay to do anything about digitalting0303. Do not forget they enjoy the fee’s they collect from these fake flash sellers. These scam artists are only stopped by victims. Will digitalting0303 be allowed to continue? You have the power to decide.

Use the tool: http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=digitalting0303&Dirn=Received+by make sure to leave negative feedback immediately, even before you file with PayPal. If you left positive, do follow up feedback stating the truth about what you discovered. Feedback remains forever. Chose your words carefully.

Leave the calling card of “SOSFakeFlash” and “H2testw” in your feedback to help others. Do not change your feedback to get a refund – you will only create more victims.

Just how bold is this fraudster? As this article is being written there are 60 fake usb flash drives, 40 MP Players and 10 memory cards offered.

Just added to the fake flash offerings:

Two more 128GB USB flash drive models now available

The launch of the first 128GB USB flash drive by Kingston has been quickly followed by the launch of 128GB drives by two other manufacturers. Edge tech now offers a 128GB DiskGo model (below left) at $390 and Patriot offers the Magnum (below right) – the price for this drive has not yet been announced.

eBay Sellers Private Auctions For Fake MP Players, USB Flash Drives, Memory Cards – 2009 June 25th

These sellers have sold fake and counterfeit USB Flash Drives, MP Players and Memory Cards on eBay. They are difficult to detect or shutdown because they use “Private Auctions”. They hide Buyer ID’s and in feedback you will not see the item description or the item number listing to inspect. Never bid for any of these items in Private Auctions!

Read: eBay Private Auction Listings – eBay Fake Flash Sellers Prefer – Victims Learn The Meaning The Hard Way – A Guide

The most dangerous active seller at the moment is kikikimarket

eBay Fake Flash Sellers Private Auctions
Gone	EbaySeller	Classifcation
No	auctionlimited222	Private Auctions
No	best-e-bay-sell	Private Auctions
No	big.digital	Private Auctions
No	chekel2007	Private Auctions
No	chengxinhall	Private Auctions
No	cybershotdude	Private Auctions
No	cybertown_network	Private Auctions
No	domi.krak1804	Private Auctions
No	fantasticoffer2009	Private Auctions
No	flying-bee2009	Private Auctions
No	friend.2009	Private Auctions
No	gold.market	Private Auctions
No	grandtechdigital	Private Auctions
No	greathkseller	Private Auctions
No	hondong2009	Private Auctions
No	i.c.distribution	Private Auctions
No	intertrade-connection	Private Auctions
No	kikikimarket	Private Auctions
No	pricelessauction	Private Auctions
No	safe2star	Private Auctions
No	skyined	Private Auctions
No	wholeselling-auctions	Private Auctions
No	xie-518	Private Auctions
Yes	allproductsold1	Private Auctions
Yes	bargain.here	Private Auctions
Yes	dai_xinyu	Private Auctions
Yes	diaoweifeng2008	Private Auctions
Yes	firstly2008	Private Auctions
Yes	fukkee	Private Auctions
Yes	jhy8011	Private Auctions
Yes	jinyu_zheng	Private Auctions
Yes	kaho.chan	Private Auctions
Yes	kbis_system	Private Auctions
Yes	ko_091582	Private Auctions
Yes	loongbays	Private Auctions
Yes	marginprice	Private Auctions
Yes	pc_exports	Private Auctions
Yes	qingchushangwangjilu	Private Auctions
Yes	rambo.xumin	Private Auctions
Yes	selleverything1911	Private Auctions
Yes	sincerefriend200888	Private Auctions
Yes	tcua80	Private Auctions
Yes	tcua88	Private Auctions
Yes	top789988	Private Auctions
Yes	xiaotian_abc	Private Auctions
Yes	zamanshop	Private Auctions
Yes	zhujunpeibay	Private Auctions

Visit SOSFakeFlash for more information: http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/

MP Players eBay – Cheap Bargains or Fabulous Fraud and Profit? SOSFakeFlash Education Week

Is eBay the place to buy MP Players cheap? Can you get a 8GB or 16GB or 32GB Player on eBay for less that $40 or $50 US? SOSFakeFlash is launching an education week for consumers. Recently they launched an general education week on fake and counterfeit memory devices sold on eBay: SOSFakeFlash Consumer Education Week 20090605 – 20090612. The Problem of Counterfeit and Fake Memory Sold On Ebay

This time they will be show casing sellers who sold false capacity MP Players. Too many buyers fall for seller claims that the units are defective. Most never learn the truth, these items have had their flash chips manipulated to report a size much larger that the chips can support. SOSFakeFlash is inviting buyers to learn more and leave comments on their experiences.

Visit this site during the next week for an eye opening education!

http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/

The information is useful, not only to people who buy on eBay but any where on the internet for MP Players. Become a smart consumer!

Commande fausse d’instantané de 64GB Sony à vendre sur la France ebay

Le world-factory-paradise de vendeur a énuméré cette commande fausse d’instantané de capacité à vendre. N’importe qui utilisant un enregistrera la perte de données. Comme jamais nous conseillons fortement des ebayers pour examiner toute la mémoire Flash avec le libre programmez h2testw.

Rapportez dedans à SOSFakeFlash si votre essai vous confirme ont un dispositif faux de capacité.

United States – Canada – Australia – Europe: eBay Sellers Of Fake MP Players, Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives. Blind Pursuit Of Greed and The Get Rich Quick Scheme.

Ebay Fake Flash Sellers in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe are different from their Oriental cousins. Most Oriental fake flash sellers are just trying to move low capacity chips at their actual price with a modest mark up – to achieve this they just digitally alter the chips to appear the size consumers are interested in.

Fake flash eBay sellers elsewhere, only see Hugh dollar signs – get rich quick schemes. The majority do not do their product homework, they dive into the fake flash bargain bin at wholesaling internet sites in the Orient. Their goal? To buy a 32GB usb flash drive at $6 US and sell it at $40 US or more! Do you think the Project is pulling your leg? Read: Wholesale Prices For Fake Sony Kingston Counterfeit USB Flash Drives 16GB 32GB 64Gb 120GB 240GB 360GB 500GB

Their markup is unrealistic, but again greed blinds people. Times are hard and many just want to believe that selling flash based devices will quickly earn them many pots of gold. All financial woes to end, easy money here I come!

The number of eBay sellers who have been caught for selling fake flash in North America and Europe is not small. While some have been prodded into removing their listings quickly when good souls like you contact them to:

1) test
2) read up on the subject

others quickly flipped the switch on their auction listing to “Private Auctions” to avoid detection, refusing to allow anyone to spoil their profit objectives.

Worse still, are eBay fake flash victims who turn to the dark side. Having been sold fakes, they feel they have a right to sell them to others. Pass the Buck. If I got scr*wed why shouldn’t you. Diabolical, but true!

• Ebay Fake Flash Seller arifqammar – A Mystery In The Ukraine
• darnubiz Ebay Fake Flash Seller Alert USA – Mystery Of a Kingston DataTraveler USB Flash Drive

There are others but the stories depressing and miserable.

To the Project, the only thing worse than a fake flash seller is a fake flash victim who tries to sell his fakes to others.

The saddest case on file is a seller in Spain who sold his fake to a brand new eBay member – his very first purchase on eBay!

This might seem gloomy about eBay sellers outside of the Orient. You need to know there are positive outcomes. eBay sellers who having discovered they were selling fakes, make it a point to contact every single buyer and refund them! Apologize too. These sellers are classified as “Victim Sellers”. They helped to co-found the FrankenFlash Project with eBayer victims. Are you surprised?

eBay is a mirror of the world in which we live. The same applies to eBay and PayPal – as many companies that have followed the cost cutting mantra of this age, they have forgotten about who matters, who gives them business – YOU!

So what did you pay for your false capacity device from an eBay seller in United States or Canada or Australia or Europe? Did you pay a lot more than from Oriental fake flash sellers? The average bid prices up to the end of May 2009 are:

You will see that outside of the orient (under Asia) , the bid prices are higher for eBay sellers located on other continents. It makes little difference. A Fake is a fake. Only buyers attempting to avoid the orient thinking that they will get a true capacity flash device and who buy elsewhere, are just as likely to fall into the fake flash pit. Why? The prices paid are not in line with the true costs. There is little mark up or profit to be made selling these items, unless you can move in very large quantities.

We also need to be fair here. The current state of the global economy is partly due to a problem in values and beliefs. For too long everyone has believed you can get “more for less”. The fact is as we have said repeatedly – there is a rock bottom fair price. If you go below this, you will not get what you are expecting. It is impossible to deliver to you. No one sells to lose money.

The echo of all fake flash victims is the same. “I did not know”. Everyone including members of the FrankenFlash Project thought they were just cutting out the middle men. It is a rude surprise and awakening for all. In some cases with tragic consequences – permanent data loss. Most fake flash victims as a result of their ordeal and that includes members of the Project, became wiser as a result of this horrible experience.

If it is too good to be true, it usually is…

As a result of this experience many no longer buy on eBay and quite a few have left PayPal tool. Most victims are resolved to buy locally from reputable sellers and are now willing to pay the true and realistic prices for mp players, usb flash drives and memory cards.

Additional Reading:

• USB Flash Drives Best Price Bargains Fair Value To Sell Or Buy 8GB 16GB 32GB
• Genuine Verses Fake Counterfeit USB Flash Drives – A Guide – USB Flash Chips Used In USB Flash Drives – Grades A B C D
• What Are The Real Costs For Flash Chips In China? Guide 2009
• FAKE 16GB 32GB 64GB – Conversations Between A Fake Flash Seller and A Victim – The Truth About the Scam Exposed

The Orient – eBay Sellers Of Fake MP Players, Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives. Are You Not Getting What You Paid For?

Fake flash sellers on eBay are clever. The ones located in the Orient are professional, even polite. They have a long term view and have been in business for a long time on eBay – long before you bought your false capacity device!

Rarely rude, at least not at the at the start, they will apologize and do all they can to have you believe the item is defective or a mistake. Even point the finger at their wicked supplier for having deceived them to milk your tears of sympathy for all it is worth. They will plead saying their job is at stake. They will negotiate. They will bribe. They will tailor the story to your personality. It is an art form, part of doing business. You will not find the crude vulgarity displayed by North American scammers nor the obstinate short tempered nature of European fraudsters.

Many think the Oriental fake flash sellers are greedy. No they are not. They are moving product in volume. Since low capacity devices don’t sell, they simply dress them up to the capacity that will interest buyers.

The reality is, you simply pay a small premium for the value of possessing a counterfeit of false capacity. Known to victims as fake usb flash drives, fake mp players, fake memory cards Those who perform the digital alteration need to be be paid for their efforts. The data collected by the Frankenflash project supports this for items purchased in the Orient, for 16GB advertised capacity it is glaring. The true capacity of the flash chips are in line with the prices paid along with a small premium mark up added. Not what you were hoping to hear?

Consider the price you paid for your item then read:

• USB Flash Drives Best Price Bargains Fair Value To Sell Or Buy 8GB 16GB 32GB
• Genuine Verses Fake Counterfeit USB Flash Drives – A Guide – USB Flash Chips Used In USB Flash Drives – Grades A B C D
• What Are The Real Costs For Flash Chips In China? Guide 2009

Have a look at the average bid price a seller receives by the continent where the seller is located. Sellers in the Orient fall under “Asia”

The data is current up to the end of May 2009. Shipping charges are not tracked. If you read up on the cost of flash chips, now use the true capacity of your flash drive chip against the bid prices sellers in the Orient receive. What are your conclusions?

Unfortunately while fake flash eBay sellers in the Orient feel they are just “doing business” – the sad fact is, they are selling data poison. Buyers lose their files when it comes to usb flash drives and memory cards. The damage done has devastated many. For Buyers of MP Players, they receive aggravation and a loss of consumer confidence in buying ANYTHING that comes from the Orient.

You may find this article very interesting reading:

FAKE 16GB 32GB 64GB – Conversations Between A Fake Flash Seller and A Victim – The Truth About the Scam Exposed

naffy23k eBay Fake Flash Seller vs H2testw and eBay Victims

eBay fake flash sellers are crafty and naffy23k is no exception. These sellers will do anything to continue deceiving to sell false capacity items to eBay members. The profit is addicting, the harm done to buyer data files horrific. SOSFakeFlash, in the new consumer education series mentioned price is a good indicator of fakes, but not always. When it comes to brand names such as Kingston or Sony, the selling price can be as high as 80% to 90% of what you might find at your local retail store. The perfect trap!

naffy23k illustrates the problem on eBay. No innocent, naffy23k has been classified as devious by SOSFakeFlash selling counterfeit and false capacity USB Kingston flash memory pen drives. If you bought anything from this seller you must test. Report to SOSFakeFlash immediately using the report a fake tab.

Why has naffy23k been chosen for the consumer education series? You are going to find it hard to believe what naffy23k has said and done!

naffy23k has claimed the program H2testw 1.4 is Fake! Not his usb flash drives.

What did the eBay member buy?

This drive now discontinued by Kingston, is a 2GB flash drive well known to the Frankenflash Project.

naffy23k replied to the buyer:

Reply by naffy23k (Apr-29-09 15:01):
Buyer lost paypal claim! Item is 32GB and not fake! h2testw is a fake program!

h2testw is a fake programme? See H2testw 1.4 – Gold Standard In Detecting USB Counterfeit Drives

Now what would be “fake” about H2testw written by Harald Bögeholz? It is one of the most downloaded programmes on the internet to test the capacity of flash chips. Do you think anyone would spend so much time developing such a programme, improving it over the years if it was useless? While copyrighted, it is offered to people for free. Why? As a public service, the problem of digitally altering flash chips to lie about their real size is that bad. German attention to detail and precision is legendary. Offering an English interface shows consideration and willingness to share.

SOSFakeFlash and victims have confirmed the results of output many times. How? Take apart the fake flash device and decode the flash drive chip used against the manufacturer’s size specifications. See: Flash Chip Storage

So would this mean that eBay fake flash seller naffy23k is simply ignorant of technology and does not have a clue about the product he is selling?

Consider this, the auction showed was public. Just click on naffy23k’s Feedback and at the moment you can still see the item as it is in the 60 day listing window.

naffy23k is puffed up stating that the buyer lost their PayPal claim. It would be more accurate to say that the buyer either refused to return the counterfeit or was worn down by PayPal’s robotic emailers. A lot of buyers are unaware that they can reopen cases or email and telephone PayPal until they wake up. The fact is, victims who walk away with refunds are those who simply will not give up!

naffy23k protested that the item was really 32GB. Why then did this seller switch to private auction listings? A seller confident in his product will not to try to hide what he is selling in feedback. Read:

eBay Private Auction Listings – eBay Fake Flash Sellers Prefer – Victims Learn The Meaning The Hard Way – A Guide

naffy23k knew very well he had a problem but was determined to dump his stock and continue selling. There was only one way he could do this. Hide the truth. Unfortunately all this will do is delay detection. It does not stop the facts from coming out. naffy23k has sold many using multiple item stock listings. Just how many victims are there? The project with the help of eBay members, patrols and seeks out sellers like naffy23k and we wait….

Well does naffy23k sell true capacity now? No he does not. We have just received confirmation from another victim of fake flash seller naffy23k for a different Kingston USB flash drive.

naffy23k has been busy selling Kingston DataTraveler DT120 32GB usb flash drives. What do you see here?

Private Auctions!

So what is the real capacity of this usb flash drive? 512MB, not 32GB! We aren’t publishing the output from H2testw 1.4 here – SOSFakeFlash wants you to do your own testing on this drive!

As the time of this articles release, naffy23k isn’t listing. The auction ended early with still two more fake flash drives to sell! Obviously naffy23k knows something is up.

Every eBay listing shows this:

Does it mean anything? To a lot of eBay fake flash victims it means little. Now will eBay hold the seller to “assume” responsibility for the listing? Will eBay force this seller to refund all buyers?

The listing also shows this:

Does this mean anything? Well the FrankenFlash Project will tell you victims have something to say about this but it is not fit for print. It is spin. A lie. It is on listing pages to give a false sense of security for would be buyers. The true reality only presents itself when you discover you have bought a false capacity item. SOSFakeFlash has published: PayPal How Long Do You Have To Claim For A Refund In Disputes? A Guide About PayPal From eBayer’s Experiences. to help people deal with Paypal. It has a wealth of information to assist you and many reference articles for you consult.

Victims of naffy23k need to test their usb flash drives quickly. What is going to happen to fake flash seller naffy23k? An interesting question. Shortly, this seller will be on the fake flash sellers list when the new update goes out. naffy23k will be there to stay.

There are other fake flash sellers who tried to hide what they were up to. guruelectronics was one reported in: Investigation On Seller Using eBay Id guruelectronics Continues At SOSFakeFlash That story had a happy ending, guruelectronics was booted – to eBay fake flash prison and so far has not dared to return.

eBay is NOT a safe place to buy usb flash penstick drives, memory cards or MP players. Right now, brand names are under attack. Kingston is receiving the brunt of it. Do not buy any Kingston usb flash drives on eBay right now – it is infested with counterfeits and fake capacity!

The hottest fakes that are making money are MP Players. Both eBay and fake flash sellers are making a killing!

The most popular false capacity size at the moment is still 16GB. 16GB memory cards, 16GB MP Players and 16GB usb flash drives. 32GB and 64GB flash drives are arising, mostly for brand names. Please stay away, or a victim you will likely be! Pay a little more, buy at a local retail outlet. eBay for nand technology buying for devices with flash storage chips in these capacities will lead to a nightmare you do not need.

As victims on eBay all say: ” If it is too good to be true…it usually is !”

Additional Reading:

• Full Report Ebay 200804 – 200905 Counterfeit And Fake Memory Cards, MP Players, Flash Memory USB Pensticks Sold On eBay By Seller To Help You Recognize The Fakes
• 16GB Fake Flash USB Tidal Waves Continue On eBay – Victims of False Capacity Devices Pour Into SOSFakeFlash For Help
• Fake MP Players On Ebay – 8GB 16GB Tidal Wave Of False Capacity – What Can You Do?
• MP Players eBay Stop Buying 8GB 16GB MP3 MP4 At Cut Rate Bargain Prices SOSFakeFlash Advises
• FAKE 16GB 32GB 64GB – Conversations Between A Fake Flash Seller and A Victim – The Truth About the Scam Exposed
• New! 6 Continents eBay Fake MP Players – USB Pen Drives – Memory Cards – SOSFakeFlash
• Hot! Quick Detection Genuine or Counterfeit Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler Michael’s Guide

6 Continents eBay Fake MP Players – USB Pen Drives – Memory Cards – SOSFakeFlash

The FrankenFlash Project has been tracking where fake Fake MP Players, USB Pen Drives and memory cards sold on eBay go. SOSFakeFlash has spend thirteen months investigating counterfeits. Presented by the six continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America the information is current ending in May 2009.

What were the average eBay bid prices for the fake usb memory sticks, MP Players and memory cards investigated by the advertised capacity on eBay?

The different sites in the FrankenFlash project have been researching the cost of flash drive chips. Recently FlashChipTutor learned that the cost has doubled per Gigabyte at the beginining of the year. Previously it was $1 US dollar per GB but now is $2 US. It should be noted that this is for the smaller chips and not the latest ones. Much also depends on the quality of the flash drive nand chip.

If one uses this rule of thumb it could mean that the current cost of an 8GB chip is? 8×2= 16 $US Dollars. What would it be for

Note that the average prices are over a 13 month period of data collection. Recently we had several resellers inform us that the cost for flash chips have been rising as FlashChipTutor predicted they would. To find out what the real costs are for flash chips please read:

• What Are The Real Costs For Flash Chips In China? Guide 2009
• USB Flash Drives Best Price Bargains Fair Value To Sell Or Buy 8GB 16GB 32GB

Afterwards you might be interested in reading through this article.

FAKE 16GB 32GB 64GB – Conversations Between A Fake Flash Seller and A Victim – The Truth About the Scam Exposed

Flickr : FrankenFlash Project, SOSFakeFlash, data loss flash memory, eBay Fraud, ebay fake memory scam, fake memory stick, fake pendrive
Zooomr : FrankenFlash Project, SOSFakeFlash, data loss flash memory, eBay Fraud, ebay fake memory scam, fake memory stick, fake pendrive

Full Report Ebay 200804 – 200905 Counterfeit And Fake Memory Cards, MP Players, Flash Memory USB Pensticks Sold On eBay By Seller To Help You Recognize The Fakes

The new edition of the master report on eBay fake flash devices sold by seller now contains 13 months of data. Presented to you by the FrankenFlashProject this new report contains 390 sellers and 1,044 models, the majority with photos used at auction. Previously this report was referred to as the fake flash sellers mug shot report.

In the early months of the battle to rid eBay of these fraudsters, there was less emphasis on documenting and preserving all the fakes investigated. At the time, SOSFakeFlash and Ebayers Against Fake Flash Devices thought through effort and arm twisting eBay would finally wake up after fives years and address the issue. They did not.

Instead, they attempted to hound and persecute those who worked inside eBay addressing the issue and promoting awareness. Many found themselves suspended or locked out, but for each fake flash angel whose wings were singed another soon stepped forward.

As SOSFakeFlash kept investigating and publishing alerts, eBay began to suspend sellers. At first you might think this is postive, but it also gives eBay the ability to immediately remove all of the sellers listings current and previous; to prevent any further negative feedback from accumulating against a seller. As a result SOSFakeFlash documents in advance to ensure evidence remains and is preserved. While this creates a lot of additional overhead and work, it is necessary so that you might have the master report.

SOSFakeFlash’s Investigative Master Report of ebay fake flash sellers. Devices sold from April 2008 to May 2009.

This file is in pdf format. 2.1 MB is size. Contains 65 pages and is in colour.

You the eBay victims, have made this report possible. By reporting to us using the report a fake tab and by fake flash angel cells sending their contributions, together you build this list! It is something no one can deny. It also means people who have said there is a problem on eBay all these years were not making it up. It is real. Of course eBay already knows this, they just do not want the global public to find out. Get your report and review it for yourselves. What are your conclusions?

Continue to fight back. Contact fellow victims of your fake flash seller and rescue them. You will find some willing to join you if you show you are committed to having the seller REMOVED. If you look at the eBay Fake Flash Sellers List and review the current one you will see many fake flash sellers are under suspension. That is the power of YOU!

getitinaflash Genuine Internet Seller Of USB Flash drives – getitinaflash.com

getitinaflash is an internet seller of genuine USB flash drives at realistic and fair prices. Based in Australia, getitinaflash does more than offer real usb flash drives for sale!

This seller stands out with an additional service – requests to download certain kinds of software (provided it is legal) and load onto the memory stick for you. If you have a low internet bandwidth or quota per month this is fabulous! A linux dvd distro could use up a person’s monthly quota and incur additional service charges. In Australia, many internet providers charge based on how much a person downloads!

You can buy blank (unloaded) usb flash drives or loaded ones, If you are a linux fan you can also get “persistent” Linux Live Boot Drives too. Also offered are DVD downloads.

John’s usb flash drives are high speed, reliable and have their capacity verified. You don’t have to be in Australia to order from getitinaflash, you can be anywhere in the world .

If you are looking for an honest internet seller who sells true capacity at fair prices “get it in a flash!” is an internet seller SOSFakeFlash recommends.

http://www.getitinaflash.com/

The FrankenFlash Project receives no referral fees and does not accept donations from internet Sellers. If a seller is nominated, it is by the sellers own merit. This service of nominating true internet sellers is provided at the request of fake flash victims desperate to find genuine sellers for true advertised capacity flash devices

John at getitinaflash has also written up additional information on fake usb flash drives you might like to read: http://www.getitinaflash.com/is-it-fake.php We never asked for anything from a seller, but getitinaflash is very serious about selling true capacity and does appreciate the damage fake flash sellers do to buyers.

If you would like to learn more about what a persistent Linux Live Boot Drive boot drive is please visit: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ .

Some people with older machines do not have an option to change the bios to boot from a usb drive. They are limited to choosing the boot order with Floppy,CD or Hard disk order. getitinaflash can provide a CD that can be used in combination with the usb drive for computers (PC’s and Laptop’s) unable to boot to it directly (usb flash drive). This is a difficult challenge for many, but this seller has take the time and pain out of making it work for older machines.

Kingston 128GB USB Flash Drive – One Now Exists! DT200/128GB

Until now the highest capacity usb flash drive on the consumer market was 64GB. There is a higher capacity available – 128GB! Just released from Kingston technologies in the new DataTraveler series, the DT200 product line. See: Kingston Technologies Releases DT200 128GB USB Flash Drive To Market

PayPal Harassing eBay Members Filing Disputes Against eBay Sellers of Fake MP Players, Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives

SOSFakeFlash reports ebay members discovering mp players, memory cards or usb flash drives are fake – false capacity and file a dispute, are being harassed by PayPal. This is not new.

Over the last 15 months, SOSFakeFlash has observed PayPal use many different tactics to avoid living up to their promise of buyer protection. The latest tactic is to demand buyers submit documentation to support their claim the item is not “authentic”. What should you do?

Victims of fraudulent sellers on eBay for these devices frequently submit the output of a testing software H2testw, to support having been sold a fake capacity item. This is a usb flash drive, mp player or memory card digitally altered to report a much higher capacity than the nand storage flash chip is in size. Through software manipulation a 4GB chip can appear to be 16GB or even 500GB. For usb flash drives and memory cards this is deadly – the moment the true capacity is exceeded all files and data are lost. Only information about the file is written to a contents table and so “appear” to exist. When a person attempts to access these files, error messages result and the file can not be retrieved. This is to be expected since the files were never transferred to the device in the first place, there was no place to put them once the true capacity was exceeded. In many cases not only is the device a “fake” but also a counterfeit using famous brand names.

The latest ploy to avoid refunding frauded buyers is force buyers to have the items appraised. Oddly MP Players, usb flash drives and memory cards are not works of art, nor are they gemstones. Detection is achieved by running the software program H2testw, written specifically to test the true capacity and state of flash storage chips.

Paypal is refusing this evidence and buyers receive responses such as:

To continue with the investigation of your complaint, we must request documentation to support your claim that the item is not authentic. Please obtain a document from an unbiased, third-party, such as a dealer, appraiser, or an organization that is qualified in the area of the item in question (other than yourself), which clearly identifies the item as not authentic. The document must specifically state how the item received differs from an authentic item and must include a detailed explanation of how the person evaluating the item determined that it is not authentic. If possible, the document should include a serial number, and must be on letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the business or organization so that PayPal may contact them if necessary.

The documents should be faxed to PayPal at (402) 537-5760 (please note this is a United States phone number, if you are faxing from outside the United States, you will generally need to dial 00 1 before the number). Please include a cover sheet with your fax that includes the email address registered on your PayPal account and the ID number of your claim (PP-695-063-079), so we may attach the documents to your claim as quickly as possible.

We must receive your fax by June 12, 2009 in order to proceed with the investigation of your claim. If we do not receive your fax by June 12, 2009, your claim will be canceled. We are unable to grant extensions to this time period. Please note that PayPal is unable to reimburse you for any costs or fees that may be incurred in obtaining the requested documents. Any documents you provide may also be supplied to the seller in your dispute if necessary.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience. We regret any inconvenience this request may cause.

Sincerely,
Lori
Protection Services Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

SOSFakeFlash has seen these robotic email template responses in the past.

Disputes are increasing at PayPal and they are feeling the heat.

As they do not wish to lose their fees this is the newest road block to try and get you to give up and go away.

What should you do?

1. If you paid by credit card, call your credit card to do a reversal. For many this is the fastest way to get a refund. It has a double sting. Paypal loses it’s fees, the fake flash seller also loses the money and is stuck with fees from ebay and paypal.

2. If you have a friend in the computer field who works in an IT company, get them to write you a letter with the information required above and fax it in.

3. f you have a friendly computer store, visit them and tell them your story. How you were frauded on eBay and show them the documentation that PayPal is holding your funds to ransom. Take your device along and if you have the output from H2testw show them that as well. Many local stores have been happy to write a short letter stating the item was a fake and false capacity. After all these fraudsters on eBay are damaging their local business. Many will be sympathetic realizing that you have learned a hard lesson. It is good customer relations too. Having learned your lesson, you are now likely to buy locally and stay away from any further eBay purchases or dealing with PayPal again.

4. If you have a brand name counterfeit contact the company. Call or email and present your evidence and send that in to PayPal. You can also visit a local store that sells the real items and have them state yours is definitely a counterfeit as they compare against the real items.

5. You can also try to call PayPal directly to take some sense into them. See PayPal Telephone Numbers – eBay Fake Flash USB Flash Drives, MP Players Memory Cards. SOSFakeFlash is hoping more telephone numbers and email addresses will be added as comments to that article by victims over time.

SOSFakeFlash advises victims to read PayPal How Long Do You Have To Claim For A Refund In Disputes? A Guide About PayPal From eBayer’s Experiences.

You will find a great deal of information on PayPal and PayPal behavior. SOSFakeFlash can not counsel each victim individually with Paypal issues. We would like too, but there are just too many of you! That is why we wrote so many articles and collected information to help you. You can leave information on posts and help each other with your claims by responding to each others comments.

There is one observation that we have, people who will NOT give up and who continue to fight PayPal and refuse to let the matter rest are the ones most likely to get a refund. This fraud has being going on for a long time. eBay fake flash sellers, and eBay try to hide under PayPal’s skirts. PayPal will try to ensure that you do not receive buyer protection – it means they loose money. They are in the business of making money, not loosing it.

It this bothers you or is against your principals – fight back!

PayPal Telephone Numbers – eBay Fake Flash USB Flash Drives, MP Players Memory Cards

eBay buyers who file claims against sellers of fake usb flash memory sticks, MP Players and memory cards often find themselves drowned in email robotic responses that have the intellegence of a peanut.

This is because responses are cut from templates, no real intellgence is required. Contacting Paypal by telephone requires a person respond to you. The results can be varied but it is better than an email robot. You should explain the situation and not let the person brush you off or give you a story – demand escalation or that they contact a supervisor immediately you feel they are not helpful.

If you need to settle a claim, try to call. Use toll free numbers if you can. Eric has contributed telephone numbers he found for you to call and a link with more information.

Please use this post to leave additional telephone numbers in your country and also email addresses. Use other Paypal posts to leave comments on the status of your cases. Let’s try and build a complete reference list to assist eBay fake flash victims around the world.

Eric:

Here is a link to all sorts of PayPal phone numbers and contact information (there is more info for U.K. and Australia on the page but I just posted the North American #s):

http://www.italkcash.com/forum/e-currency-e-gold-e-bullion-paypal-epassporte-etc/2191-paypal-helpline-get-thru-paypal.html

PayPal Phone Numbers: America & Canada

1-402-935-2050 (Toll Number)
1-888-215-5506 (Toll Free Number)
1-888-221-1161 (Toll Free Number)
1-408-376-7400 (Toll Number)
1-650-864-8000 (Toll Number)
1-402-935-2284 (Toll Number — Banking and Check Issues)
1-402-935-2212 (Toll Number — ACH Processing & Check Services)
1-402-935-2255 (Toll Number — Account Review Department)
1-402-935-2257 (Toll Number — Account Review Department)
1-402-935-2223 (Toll Number — PayPal Compliance)
1-402-935-2250 (Toll Number — PayPal Compliance)
1-402-935-2000 (Toll Number — Customer Service Department)
1-402-935-2007 (Toll Number — Customer Service Department)
1-402-935-5181 (Toll Number — Debit Card Services)
1-402-935-2116 (Toll Number — Escalations Department)
1-402-935-2129 (Toll Number — Escalations Department)
1-402-935-2238 (Toll Number — Management, Escalations Department)
1-402-935-2239 (Toll Number — Fraud Prevention Department)
1-402-935-2251 (Toll Number — Manager, Resolutions Department)
1-650-251-1101 (Toll FAX Number — Never Fax w/o a Case Number!)
1-408-376-7514 (Toll FAX Number — Never Fax w/o a Case Number!)
1-402-537-5755 (Toll FAX Number — PayPal Chargeback Department)
1-402-938-2337 (Toll FAX Number — Compliance Department)
1- 303-395-2802 (Toll FAX Number — Compliance Department)

BTW the people who answered my calls at PayPal were both based in the USA … and as I mentioned they were both very polite and helpful … but of course not everyone may have had the same experience.

Additional Reading:

• PayPal How Long Do You Have To Claim For A Refund In Disputes? A Guide About PayPal From eBayer’s Experiences

If you have more telephone numbers or email addresses, please leave them in comments on this post.

eBay Fraud – Seller digitalting0303 Begins Fake Flash Selling As Soon As 90 suspension Is Over!

SOSFakeFlash reports that seller digitalting0303 who frauded 1000’s of eBay members with false capacity usb flash drives advertised at 32GB in Fall of 2008 has returned to sell even more. Fake usb flash memory pen drives and memory cards are being sold at alarming speed. 500 have been sold to unsuspecting consumers, since this sellers 90 day suspension ended. Not only has he returned, but digitalting0303 is is now cleverly hiding what he is selling using private auctions.

See digitalting0303 Ebay Fake Flash Seller High Alert Devious – Hong Kong

Unlike most alerts published by, SOSFakeFlash includes an open message for eBay to read.

eBay Fraud sellasera68258, yazmin_yenthe_bay, sfrankish5872 Fake Flash Memory Stick Ring

Who is Zhonghuanyun (cao you)? eBay fake flash seller of 16GB usb flash memory drives under the id’s of: sellasera68258, yazmin_yenthe_bay, sfrankish5872. All item were sent from this address in Hong Kong:

Zhonghuanyun(cao you)

Room 305,3/F,Block A
Sun Fung Centre,88 Kwok Shui
Rd,Kwai Chung
Honk Kong

sellasera68258 and sfrankish5872 are under eBay suspension in fake flash prison. yams_yenthe_bay is attempting to evade buyers by changing his feedback to private. Those who engage in selling false capacity usb flash drives on eBay have many id’s. It spreads the risk and avoids being found out. You can learn more by reading: eBay Fake Flash Sellers Of MP Players – USB Flash Drives – Memory Cards – About Their IDs

sellasera68258, yams_yenthe_bay, sfrankish5872 engaged in hit and run selling. Together they sold many fake usb flash drives in a very short period of time. If you bought a usb flash drive from any of these eBay seller id’s you risk data loss. Please test and a file a claim against the seller id with PayPal quickly, before it is too late.

• June 4th 2009 sellasera68258 Ebay Fake Flash Seller Alert – China
• June 14th, 2009 yazmin_yenthe_bay Ebay Fake Flash Seller Alert – China
• June 14th, 2009 sfrankish5872 Ebay Fake Flash Seller High Alert – China

So were is Zhonghuanyun(cao you)? The FrankenFlash Project invites the Hong Kong Technology Crime Prevention Unit to send inspectors to pay him a visit. He has some explaining to do. Why did he unleash data poison on inspecting eBay members around the world? His guilt is clear/ Trying to save his yazmin_yenthe_bay ebay id from angry victims by changing his feedback to private do no good. Zhonghuanyun(cao you) fake flash deeds have been found out!

Zhonghuanyun(cao you)

Room 305,3/F,Block A
Sun Fung Centre,88 Kwok Shui
Rd,Kwai Chung
Honk Kong

is here:

If you bought a usb flash drive from sellasera68258, yazmin_yenthe_bay or sfrankish5872 please report into SOSFakeFlash using the Report A Fake Tab.

Contrefaçon possible 64GB Kingston DataTraveler 150

Nous pensons que cette commande instantanée énumérée par nadin357 est probablement la capacité fausse – personne ne pourrait se permettre de risquer le listinh quelque chose cette des coûts plus de 60 euros en gros avec un prix de début de 1 euro ! Examinez toute la mémoire Flash avec h2testw

Rapportez dedans au flash de sosfake si les expositions de essai vous ont un article faux de capacité.

Is this Kingston Datatraveler 150 on ebay France counterfeit?

We think this is a counterfeit 64GB DataTraveler 150 – if it is genuine Kingston will be able to confirm this as each one has an individual serial number. Perhaps seller tralinon should get on the phone and check with Kingston. We can’t see how ebayers could possibly afford to list real ones at auction with low start prices. A lot of ebayers have bought these recently from fraudulent wholesalers. The counterfeits have very low capacity and will cause users to lose data. Real capacity can be checked with h2testw.

Report in to SOSFakeFlash if your testing confirms you have a false capacity device.

SOSFakeFlash Consumer Education Week 20090605 – 20090612. The Problem of Counterfeit and Fake Memory Sold On Ebay

SOSFakeFlash published a series of articles to educate consumers on the problem of fake mp players, usb flash drives and memory sticks sold on ebay during the week of June 5th 2009 to June 12th 2009. It includes information collected by the FrankenFlash Project over a 13th month period. The objective was to increase global awareness about the problem of false capacity devices being sold on eBay and to assist members to avoid buying false capacity items. These devises can be dangerous to files as they will be lost the moment the true capacity of the flash drive chips is exceeded.

Consumers will fall prey to fake flash sellers, not only in the Orient but any country if they make a dangerous mistake. Not understanding the true costs of nand flash drive chips. Many assume that the reason for the low prices on eBay is the result of cutting out the “Middle Man”. Anyone who follows this line of reasoning is in for a very unpleasant surprise. The FrankenFlash project after many months of research reveals the truth in the hope that people will avoid becoming victims in the future. The old saying “You get what you pay for” is stinging!

Published:

• United States – Canada – Australia – Europe: eBay Sellers Of Fake MP Players, Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives. Blind Pursuit Of Greed and The Get Rich Quick Scheme.
• The Orient – eBay Sellers Of Fake MP Players, Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives. Are You Not Getting What You Paid For?
• naffy23k eBay Fake Flash Seller vs H2testw and eBay Victims
• 6 Continents eBay Fake MP Players – USB Pen Drives – Memory Cards – SOSFakeFlash
• Full Report Ebay 200804 – 200905 Counterfeit And Fake Memory Cards, MP Players, Flash Memory USB Pensticks Sold On eBay By Seller To Help You Recognize The Fakes
• getitinaflash Genuine Internet Seller Of USB Flash drives – getitinaflash.com
• Hot! FAKE 16GB 32GB 64GB – Conversations Between A Fake Flash Seller and A Victim – The Truth About the Scam Exposed
• PayPal Harassing eBay Members Filing Disputes Against eBay Sellers of Fake MP Players, Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives
• PayPal Telephone Numbers – eBay Fake Flash USB Flash Drives, MP Players Memory Cards

Additional Reading:

• eBay Fake Flash Sellers List – 20090603 – Fake MP Players, Memory Sticks and Memory Cards Revealed
• Unpaid Item Strike eBay – What To Do When A Fake Flash Seller Gets Vindictive
• PayPal Orders You To Return Fake MP Players, Fake MP Players , Fake USB Flash Drives, Fake Memory Cards To Get A Refund? Think Again!
• PayPal How Long Do You Have To Claim For A Refund In Disputes? A Guide About PayPal From eBayer’s Experiences.

Kingston Technologies WebSite Introduces New Feature For Viewing Kingston USB Flash Drives To Verify Capacity Offered By Product Line

Kingston Technologies has introduced a wonderful new feature for searching their consumer usb flash drive products. You can select the capacity and see which product lines offer the desired capacity. It is a great search consulting tool and part of Kingston’s effort to combat those who would like to sell cheap imitations of their products or try to super boost older models to report wild unrealistic capacity sizes to operating systems. To consumers these are known as counterfeits and fakes!

Almost all major brand names are currently under attack from counterfeiters. Two companies, Kingston and Sony are fighting back. Kingston is applying additional effort to aid consumers world wide. They have a serial verification site and now have improved their search feature to show what are the capacity sizes they manufactured for a particular product line.

You are invited to try it out. We did. If you wish to purchase a Kingston usb flash drive on the internet you should always visit a Kingston website to verify they really make the product in the capacity being advertised to you by a seller. Your first step to being a smart and well informed consumer. If you don’t see the capacity offered by Kingston, you can be 100% sure that it is a fake counterfeit and potentially very dangerous to use. Digitally altered flash drives, lead to data loss.

http://www.kingston.com/flash/DataTravelers_consumer.asp

For example if you use the search feature to see which drives are 128GB

You will get this:

Nothing comes up. Why? As of June 10th, 2009 Kingston does not yet make a usb flash drive of 128GB. When they do, the search tool will show you the model that offers it. So if you don’t see anything, they do not make a 128GB flash drive. In fact nobody does right now. So any size beyond 64GB at the moment is an obvious fake!

If you search for 64GB:

there is only one usb flash drive that will come up right now, the DT150 64GB DataTraveler usb flash drive. That means any other drive or model is an Obvious fake!

If you are a potential reseller:

Do stay away from importing any drives like these from Chinese internet wholesaling sites. They were never make by Kingston. You can not purchase a usb flash drive at this price for resale at these capacities. There is no such thing as “Upgrading” a usb flash drive. You can not make a little usb flash drive chip magically grow to hugh capacity with some sort of software upgrade. The upgrade translated means “trick the operating system” into believing the usb flash drive is a bigger size than it really is or the data it can actually hold.

If you see any usb flash drives with 64GB stickers or any other sticker for size, understand this, Kingston does not put sticky labels to indicate the size of their usb flash drives. They offer quality usb flash drive products and are not so miserly as to cut corners with a sticky for the size of the flash drive product they offer.

If you search for 32GB:

You will see a number of different usb flash drives presented to you. Your next step would be to select the model you saw on an internet site to read up on the product.

This new quick reference feature will save you time and help you spot the most obvious fakes masquerading as Kingston usb flash drives.

For additional reference information on Kingston usb flash drive counterfeits see http://flashdrivefacts.wordpress.com/ there is a category devoted to Kingston. Also see the guide section for a lot of useful information to help you spot a counterfeit and how you can verify if your Kingston usb flash drive serial number is valid.

In if the seller is offering a usb flash drive that matchs at Kingston you need to exercise care. Read those guides.

If you wish to be safe consult: http://www.kingston.com/wheretobuy/Regions.asp and find a retailer near you. These are difficult times, support your local sellers and help your own countries economy.

Buyers who ended up with Kingston counterfeits and fakes regret it. Most found them on eBay. Others at internet sites that are not authorized distributors of Kingston products. Read: kingstonusbcf.com Said To Sell Counterfeit Kingston Flash Drives

Did your Kingston DataTraveler 150 corrupt and lose files??

Over the last couple of months huge numbers of counterfeit 32GB and 64GB Kingston DataTraveler flash drives have been advertised on the Internet. These mimic the appearance of the real ones but there are some clues that can help you identify a counterfeit even before you buy. The first one is that the fakes seem to be shinier than the real ones – they have a very cheap and shiny stick-on covering:

When you get the drive you can sometimes see how tatty this is:

If there is no engraving showing the capacity of the drive on the usb connector you can be sure it is fake – but the cleverer counterfeits like the one below do have this – so engraving is no guarentee of authenticity!

Genuine Kingston DataTraveler 150 drives have a sticker on the back with a bar code showing a serial number – but so do some counterfeits – the clever counterfeits (like the one below) show a label with a serial number.

You think you are ok because the serial number is there but when you check with Kingston you find that the serial number has already been registered. Each genuine drive has an individual and completely unique serial number – counterfeits may show a serial number but it will be the same on every drive.

We suspect this means the fraudsters who produced the counterfeits bought one genuine drive and copied the information on it for their fakes. If you see Kingston flash drives for sale in a retail outlet with the same serial number you can be sure they are fakes. Here is the circuit board from inside a counterfeit 64GB DataTraveler 150 – the chip you see here is the small control chip:

Here is the control chip in close-up. It has an identification code which determines which tools are needed to programme it. The control chip is what reports the capacity of the drive to the operating system.

Fraudsters use the same tools as manufacturers to program the chip – the big difference is that the fraudster programs the chip to lie about the capacity of the drive. This fools most people – after all their computer shows the drive as having the capacity they expect and that just has to be true doesn’t it?

 Well no it doesn’t – the control chip can be programmed to display any capacity the fraudster likes. You cannot beleive your operating system.  This  is why we always say test with h2testw.  It will reveal the actual capacity of the flash drive and how much data would be lost or corrupted.

The larger chip shown below is the flash memory chip – the largest capacity of flash memory chip currently used in USB flash drives is 16GB – so a 64GB flash drive would need four of these – we have never seen a counterfeit with more than one!!

The cost of flash memory chips has recently doubled so any new genuine flash drives coming onto the market from now on will cost more than they did last year. We hope this post helps you understand the nature of this scam. If you buy cheap you can expect to pay dear – defrauded out of your money and losing your files!

Flash fraud is a big profit business in China

The sale of counterfeit USB flash drives (which are also fake capacity), generic fake capacity USB flash drive, fake capacity Media players, memory cards etc is big business in China both on ebay and elsewhere.

An example on ebay is seller beyboosry – in the 90 days prior to the seller’s feedback score plunging to 88.6% and listings ending (probably removed by ebay due to poor feedback score) this seller was doing rather nicely thank you by selling fake 64GB flash drives (all the same type just different colours of swivel cover) at impossibly low prices for a real 64GB flash drive. Most of them turned out to be 2GB so the seller made double what he would have done as a genuine seller. Amazingly he sold every single drive listed before the negs flooded in (450 in all) – just shows how little awareness there is among ebayers about the true cost of flash memory! How much did beyboosry make?

Items Sold: 100%
Total Value Sold: £8937.74
Total Value Shipping: £3085.50 (he made a natty profit on shipping at £5.99 per item!)
Total Value Not Sold: £0.00
Sold Item Fees: £135.00 (at 30p per item thanks to fee evasion by loading the postage)
Unsold Item Fees: £0.00

Don’t let fraudsters get away with it! Do your research before buying flash memory items. If the price looks too good to be true then it’s not true. Test all flash memory with h2testw as soon as it arrives.

If your purchase was made on ebay then report in to sosfakeflash with full details if you find it is fake capacity .