TechReporters has just received an urgent communication from the website SOSFakeFlash.wordpress.com. The site was taken offline by wordpress.com November 25th, 2010. The SOSFakeFlash team does not know why. Did wordpress.com give in to pressure?
According to the main Author, KittyFireFlash, it may be a misunderstanding. SOSFakeFlash has a very high internet ranking, generally in the the 500,000 to 600,000 range on http://www.alexa.com/ and was approaching 1,000,000 hits.
Launched in 2008, SOSFakeFlash was the first site in the FrankenFlash Project to promote awareness on the internet for fake and counterfeit flash memory items such as usb flash drives, mp3 mp4 players and memory cards. Former buyer victims on eBay and also sellers joined together fight the issue. So many people were being frauded and losing important files to digitally altered flash memory storage chips used in these counterfeits. The fraud was astonishing. An issue on eBay for over eight years. Until SOSFakeFlash appeared on the internet, both eBay and PayPal ignored buyers. It is estimated that many sellers earned over $300,000 to $500,000 US in profits for each id. A lot of id’s have been identified as being in counterfeit rings – same seller, but using multiple id’s to continue in fraud. SOSFakeFlash tracks the counterfeit rings in their database.
This is NOT a popular subject with people who engage in the fraud of selling fake flash memory. In fact, it decreases sales – the last thing they want, empowered consumers. SOSFakeFlash was and is dedicated ending the sale of fake flash memory chip items on the internet and to inform the public to be careful and stand up for their rights as victims, buyers of such diabolical items. Upgraded memory is data poison. Consumers around the world are being impacted.
The reason for SOSFakeFlash? Their goal?
Toward A Fake Flash Drive Free World – No More Counterfeits – No More Data Loss
It’s a noble cause and has helped so many people during the past three years.
About one million flash memory chips are reprogrammed every month. If you find this hard to believe we think you should read:
Is wordpress.com caving in under pressure from China? From eBay? From PayPal? FakeFlashNews does not know. We hope they aren’t!
It is true that the sale of fake flash memory is big business. Brand names such as Kingston Technologies, Scandisk and Sony continue to suffer terrible damage to their brands and reputations. SOSFakeFlash along with other sites struggle to protect the reputation of these brands and to educate consumers that you can’t buy the genuine item at ridiculous prices.
According to KittyFireFlash, an optimist, it is possible that auto robots flagged the site accidentally. We hope this is true and that wordpress.com will reactive a site so important to protecting consumers and educating the global public.
In the interim SOSFakeFlash has requested that people continue to report their fake flash memory sellers at sosfakeflashdrive@gmail.com
Their Report A Fake Tab Asks:
If you have confirmed that you have a fake (purchased from eBay) and you wanted it entered into the database as evidence so we can post an alert or update counts against a seller we will need the following information from you:
- eBay item number
- eBay Seller id
- Your eBay Buyer id (don’t forget this please)
- Your output from H2testw 1.4
- eBay item description title
- Seller address complete if you have it (mailing envelopes, eBay, PayPal). Important to build profile and track multiple id
- Seller email address
- A short word of you experience and or thoughts if you like (optional)
To learn about testing read:
H2testw 1.4 – Gold Standard In Detecting USB Counterfeit Drives It has a poll and over 2200 have voted on the tool!
The team at SOSFakeFlash investigates fraudulent sellers. They also have several databases where they record information. What the seller sold and they preserve the evidence. Keep reporting in to them, help them to document the sellers.
This is an ugly subject, there is a lot of money involved. If you bought a product that turned out to be fake memory, how do you feel about the money you lost and potentially data?
Who has bought fake flash memory items? Just about everyone. Government agencies (SOSFakeFlash is very quiet about which governments and what agencies for security reasons), a lot of small businesses and every day consumers. Quiet a few small businesses have been ruined in a lot of countries, as they did not have back ups of their information. They trusted technology and believed the sellers were genuine. They paid by going out of business and in a few cases faced terrible lawsuits. Ruin.
We at FakeFlashNews, hope our neighboring site, SOSFakeFlash will be exonerated and up and running soon. It’s the most respectable site for reporting on fake flash memory items on the internet.
If they are removed, it is a dark day for consumers and potential resellers. It also becomes a clear testament as to how dark this subject of falsifying flash memory chips is and how determined the black market is to fraud buyers and to destroy data.
FakeFlashNews will update on the status of SOSFakeFlash’s fate as soon as we receive new information. TechReporters hopes it was an error.
The_Flash
November 27, 2010
Well, I see that SOSFakeFlash is now back. 🙂 It’s THE most important resource I can point to when spreading the word about fake flash media, and seeing it suspended was quite a shock!
I’m glad that all the data you guys hold is safe – I take it that you have backups of everything that’s on the site? Even so, I certainly hope that nothing like that happens again.
When (or if?) you find out what happened, will you guys be able to tell us what went wrong?
ians12
November 27, 2010
ebay HQ is in Luxembourg, an EU member state. I have written to the EU ministers dealing with fake items being sold or transiting the EU many times now. After saying they would be doing something its all gone quiet, they don’t answer my emails any more.
Members resident in the EU may want to write their MEPs and ask them why Regulation (EC) No 3295/94 on counterfeit and pirated goods is not being implemented very well.
See http://curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp00/aff/cp0028en.htm for more info.
KittyFireFlash
November 27, 2010
@ ians12,
We are currently awaiting news about what happened. SOSFakeFlash is a very sophisticated site, for a blog . It took a lot of effort to make it more than just a typical blog and that could be part of the issue.
There are a lot of things brewing under the surface.
We prided ourselves in getting the facts. We still do.
No point in jumping to conclusions just yet. When we have them, we will advise.
A BIG THANK YOU! FAKEFLASHNEWS for reporting what happened.
The really sad part, ians12?
People who bought fake flash memory products. They are the victims of fraudulent sellers, the victims of internet sites that offered them. They are also being make victims again, by the outage on wordpress.com. Depressing, isn’t it?
The good news? All the data and information is safe and sound. The evidence. It’s in the safe keeping of the FrankenFlash Project.
We are contacting sites for help in reporting fakes and the sellers involved.
This is an evolving battle in a very nasty war. There is nothing fair about it. It is far from over. It;s about adapting, fighting back one way or another.
The hardest thing to bear? Knowning so many people will be frauded and will loose their data. Money is one thing, everyone can earn more. Data lost? That can never be replaced.
The subject of digitally alterned flash memory is dark. It is also a multi billion enterprise in sales and profit.
ians12
November 25, 2010
Just move it to private hosting and create a Worpress blog there.
Try these people
http://www.1st-amendment.net/