Sony 256GB USB Flash Drive Beware – eBay Guide?

Posted on June 9, 2011 by

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Have you seen warnings “BEWARE of FAKE 128GB/256GB USB Flash Drives on eBay … All Sony Vaio USB Flash drives available on eBay are counterfeit as ‘Vaio’ refers to Sony” on the internet?

It’s an old story of fraud, fake usb flash drives whose flash memory chips have been upgraded – manipulated with low level formatting software to lie about real capacity to operating systems.

SOSFakeFlash and FakeMemorySentinel have been warning about them for a long time. Imagine 256GB capacity for only $64.99 US. Would you buy it on eBay? It’s a bargain price, cheap, but is it really worth it?

FakeFlashNews received this eBay listing advertising “Sony 256GB USB Flash Drive OEM Memory New Hot in Style” from the lead investigator for Fake Flash Memory – Internet Watchdog at FakeMemorySentinel.

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As Spookie points out, Sony never made this flash drive. There is no OEM version of a Sony usb flash drive. Why would Sony produce OEM versions?

OEM means “original equipment manufacturer”. Is this Sony usb flash drive part of a PC or a laptop? Foolish eBay and internet sellers continue to advertise fake Sony usb flash drives. Buyers pay the price – fake memory.

The metallic flash drive shown here is one of the oldest fakes SOSFakeFlash first reported. You find them at Chinese wholesaler sites. They are usually very cheap in price.

SOSFakeFlash’s database has these usb flash drives on file confirmed as fake, sold on eBay at the advertised capacity of: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and also 256GB.

As market demand grows for higher capacity usb flash drives, fake flash memory sellers simply change software settings to alter flash storage chips to report a higher capacity to operating systems. Their profit margin also increases as larger capacity usb flash drives sell at a higher retail. This flash drive stamped with the Sony name has been listed at 512GB on eBay for only $49.99 US.

To learn more about fake Sony flash drives read:

please contact STOPFAKES@AM.SONY.COM to help them detect fraudulent sellers for fake and counterfeit Sony flash memory.

You can report an eBay seller to SOSFakeFlash using their Report A Fake tab.

To test flash memory chips for capacity read: H2testw 1.4 – Gold Standard In Detecting USB Counterfeit Drives. It includes links to the free software and a poll.

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Posted in: Counterfeit Flash Drives, eBay Consumer Testing