Complaints against kingstonusbcf.com have been received by the FrankenFlash Project. Buyers are reporting Kingston USB Flash drives purchased are fakes. Is this so? And who is willing to confirm this? You might be very surprised.
In the spring of 2009 the project started to notice a flood of Kingston DT150 USB Flash drives arriving for sale on eBay. The first serious epidemic came from eBay sellers in China channeling the fake memory sticks through Hong Kong. Confirmed – Counterfeit Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler Ring eBay Sellers minggege99, abestpartner0, and niuren2008
Since then it has spread to eBay sites around the world. Every week FrankenFlash Project sites issue new alerts on confirmed and suspected sellers of counterfeit Kingston DT150 32GB 32 GB 64GB 64 GB DataTraveler 150 USB 2.0 Flash Drives on eBay.
Victims search the internet and when the first report came into SOSFakeFlash an investigation started. It appears a victim of kingstonusbcf.com upon testing the drive observed:
I tried to copy files over and once you are over 5gb to 6gb, (the copy command works fine!) but when you explore the drive all you see is the empty folder with no files in it. But if you check the properties on the drive it shows the used space has been increased and you have less free space.
I checked with your test program and waiting for a loooong time it came up with an error.
The buyer tried contacting kingstonusbcf and received no replies to emails, none. The victim decided to send an email directly to Kingston in China asking about this website and here is the response received:
Dear Customer:
Thank you for contacting Kingston Technology.
( www.kingstonusbcf.com) This website sale’s product is counterfeit goods, you bump into this kind of question, is possibly because of the counterfeit goods reason.
Please you to relate the dealer returned goods, suggests you to the regular dealer place purchase product.
For dealer information:please refer to http://www.kingston.com/china/support/center/network.htm
If there are other technical problems, please contact me, thank you!
Best Regards & thanks,
ThanksBest Regards
KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY(SHANGHAI)CO.LTD
Technical Support Dept.
SOSFakeFlash currently in consumer education week did not publish but waited for more victims to find the project. Another victim left this comment: http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/report-a-fake/comment-page-2/#comment-2172
The project is quietly monitoring the internet for information on kingstonusbcf. It appears this site is heading for trouble soon. The domain is owned by Jiaxin Technology and only recently created at the end of April 2009. The odd thing is the timing. Toward the end of SOSFakeFlash’s campaign against the 32GB DT 150 DataTraveler outbreak on eBay.
Is kingstonusbcf selling counterfeit Kingston Products? False capacity and defective items? It appears that Kingston in China says so. The server kingstonusbcf is hosted on is in the United States far from China’s grasp.
Please test anything you buy from the internet site kingstonusbcf for true capacity. See: H2testw 1.4 – Gold Standard In Detecting USB Counterfeit Drives
This site may be selling a mixed grill, fake and false capacity with some real items. It would not be the first time a site does this. The most glaring facts against this seller are buyers unable to get a response from kingstonusbcf and Kingston China’s response.
The FrankenFlash Project is interested in more evidence. Do you have the original mailing envelopes with shipping addresses? Can you provide testing results for items purchased? Take apart the usb flash drives and photograph in detail? See the guides presented here for the kind of information needed. Send your details to sosfakeflashdrive@gmail.com or leave your comments here.
Selling usb flash drives that have been digitally altered to lie about their real size is dangerous, it is data poison. The counterfeit issue for the Kingston DT150 32GB and 64GB DataTraveler is spreading rapidly around the world. In one case on eBay over 4,600 units were sold for over £80,000 It is unclear where these items are being assembled or the distribution channels involved, nor the magnitude. The only thing that is known is that the problem originates in China and large volume importing is occurring from disreputable sellers on wholesaler sites in China.
Only buy these drives from a reputable local retailer or directly from a Kingston website serving your geographical region. Until this problem can be stopped it is not safe to buy these drives on eBay and now internet sites. Exercise caution on Amazon Marketplace as as well. Exotic 128 Kingston USB Flash drives have been sold there and there are reports of 64GB Kingston fakes too. There is no such thing as a usb penstick at a capacity higher than 64GB available on the consumer market today and it is unlikely for quiet some time.
Additional Reading:
- Kingston USB Flash Drives – Detect Counterfeits And Fakes – Product Verification
- Genuine or Counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler – Quick Detection – A Guide
- Quick Detection Genuine or Counterfeit Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler Michael’s Guide
- 32GB Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler USB Flash Drive Counterfeits eBay Scandal – Wholesale Costs For Counterfeits
- Searching SOSFAKEFLASH ON DT150
Fake Flash News - Internet & eBay Fraud 
Danny Macedo
December 28, 2009
Anothe web site from the same scam PPL
Yongquan Lane, Shiba District
http://www.hotsellcheapelec.com
victim
July 18, 2009
Paypal resolution response:
Our investigation into your claim is complete. As stated in our User Agreement, the claims process only applies to the shipment of goods. It does not apply to complaints about the attributes or quality of goods received. Therefore, we are unable to reverse this transaction or issue a refund.
Darrell G Ward
July 1, 2009
I just today since early April received a Fake KINGSTO 32GB and it can from SHANGAI CHINA.
Purchased from:
http://www.kingstonusbcf.com
IT WILL NOT READ OR WRITE
TechChips
June 23, 2009
Hi Anonymous KingTech L1:
We originally traced Kingstonusbcf.com to be hosted on 69.147.246.154 in the United States, Nobis Technology Group in Los Angeles. The account currently appears to be suspended. The domain was registered as follows, hope this is helpful.
Registration Service Provided By: Huipu Business
Contact:
Visit: http://ym.wz88.com
Domain name: kingstonusbcf.com
Registrant Contact:
Jiaxin Technology
Yong Liu ()
Fax:
No.39, Yongquan Lane, Shiba District
Ruian, ZHEJIANG 325200
CN
Administrative Contact:
Jiaxin Technology
Yong Liu ()
+86.57765820533
Fax: +86.57765820555
No.39, Yongquan Lane, Shiba District
Ruian, ZHEJIANG 325200
CN
Technical Contact:
Jiaxin Technology
Yong Liu ()
+86.57765820533
Fax: +86.57765820555
No.39, Yongquan Lane, Shiba District
Ruian, ZHEJIANG 325200
CN
Status: Locked
Name Servers:
ns5.everdns.com
ns6.everdns.com
Creation date: 23 Apr 2009 14:01:46
Expiration date: 23 Apr 2010 14:01:46
Anonymous
June 23, 2009
I work in level 1 support for Kingston Technologies. All products purchased from kingstonusbcf.com are counterfeits made in china. The only reason the website has not been shut down is due to the fact it is hosted in china, it is difficult to get it shut down.