Escalation In False Capacity USB Fake Memory eBay! SOSFakeFlash News July 3rd, 2009
Posted by kittyfireflash on July 3, 2009
Warning to all eBayer members. There is a serious escalation in fake flash usb drives being offered by eBay sellers in the Orient.
SOSFakeFlash with your assistance managed to have many sellers suspended. Their sentence in eBay fake flash prison ended, they are back with a vengeance.
New seller id’s have appeared. Old sellers, having recently been shut down are using their stock of id’s prepared long in advance.
Everywhere we turn, we are finding new sellers. The objective of the fraudsters is simply this, Hit and Run. Massive listings over a very short period of time. Typical preparation is to sell cheap items for less than $1 us or £1. Often it is a stylus, earphones or an MP Player sock. They will sell these to build positive feedback and also to compensate for any negative feedback from frauded buyers. This strategy is used by small sellers and powersellers. The game of numbers.
We need your help! There are just too many of them. The major target is 16GB capacity. The period they will list has decreased. It can be as short as 5 days, with massive volume or 3 days on followed by 3 days off. We need you to patrol your eBay country regions. Look for suspect usb flash drives in 16GB. Please leave your comments and reports on this post to assist us. How can you make a difference?
Alerts will resume soon. There is a lot of investigative work involved. This site does not make idle claims.
It is easy to spot 16GB fakes. It is not possible to offer genuine usb flash drives at $20 US or less, if the seller wishes to make a profit. $20 US is the rock bottom price for an 8GB flash drive, quality possibly only at grade B. You can read up on usb flash drive chip prices at: http://flashdrivefacts.wordpress.com/
see What Are The Real Costs For Flash Chips In China? Guide 2009
We are announcing zero tolerance. Only 1 single confirmation is needed for an eBay seller to be put on the eBay fake flash sellers list. The escalation and the fact that eBay will not introduce a policy on the selling of Flash based technology requires a more aggressive approach. After 18 months of experience, we know that it only takes one. Data supports this over and over again. Only about 1 in 10,000 false capacity devices is reported. Does this shock you? The only way the number of victims can be reduced is by early detection. Fraudsters need to be shut down quickly before they can accumulate false positive feedback from buyers who do not test properly. Otherwise they are able to build a feedback wall that protects them and allows them to continue with their fraud.
Can you help patrol? If you did not like being frauded on eBay, this is your opportunity to do something positive:
1. Look for any usb flash drive 16GB capacity listings on your eBay home site. Fraudsters target different countries at different times. They rotate eBay regions. For example, a seller may not show up on ebay.com but will in the UK or in Europe exclusively. A few weeks later they will switch and if frauded buyers check in their area they will think the seller has stopped – not so. If the items are below $25 US report the seller id’s on this post to assist us to examine them.
2. If you see any seller offering “free shipping” and a low bid price, report on this post.
3. Select 16GB listings at low prices. Write to the seller and ask if they can guarantee the advertised capacity. Corner them. Did they test with H2testw? If they refuse to answer your question, report here, we know that when a seller refused to respond there was only one outcome, they eventually appeared on the list!
4. If any seller offers listings with “Buyer Id Kept Private ” – this is a 99.9999% sign of a fake flash seller. Please do the following:
a) Report here.
b) Ask the seller why they are using a private auction. Send any communications to sosfakeflashdrive@gmail.com or paste them in here.
c) Go the bottom of the listing and report it to eBay. It is against the intent of ebay Private Listings for items at this price. It is used on purpose to hide the fraud.
5. Use the tool http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs
Type in the sellers name. Look for any signs of fake usb flash drives. Contact people who bought these items and complained. Ask them to contact sosfakeflashdrive@gmail with their story. Remember, we only need 1 confirmation. This action is a proactive approach. The sooner a seller is detected, the sooner the research can begin and the seller added to the list. It also allows for internet alerts that will assist other buyers to find us, the truth and to fight back. We feel this could help to shorten their fake flash careers on eBay.
6. Contact buyers who left positive feedback for a seller and ask them to test, immediately. If they have a fake, ask them to send the information to us. See http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/report-a-fake/ They risk data loss if they purchased a false capacity usb flash drive. The consequences can be devastating.
Note: You can send only 5 messages a day to eBay members. To sellers you can send about 15 inquiries.
The SOSFakeFlash team needs your help. The message quota is the most serious obstacle against warning people to test. More people are needed to use their id’s to send out the messages. This is the only way that people can be warned.
Most of us received such a message long ago in our inbox. We took the warning seriously. We tested and many of us avoided data loss. Some were not so lucky but at least understood why the data was lost. We fought the fake flash sellers, eBay and Paypal and stayed to address the issue. We set up these websites to help you. Can you help as we have?
Bo said
Sheeeesh! Where are all these Fake Flash sellers coming from? It’s like an invading Chinese army ! Hundreds of the little blighters.
What makes it worse is that Ebay are doing virtually NOTHING about these fake sellers.
Buyer protection be damned! …. It’s corporate profits that rule Ebay.
Ebay FULLY KNOW about all of this, but do nothing.
Greed, greed and more greed.
Duncan said
poor little robinhood mouse scammers everywhere. like it! i am trying to contact buyers i can only do 4 msgs a day to get around ebay. i never got my money back paypal said i had to prove the memory card was fake LOL! greed, you got that right
Carl said
What is the best way to stop sellers? Get rid of them?
Randy said
EBay has the power to stop sellers but do they want to?
Watch this old video by the BBC.
A report from the BBC’s consumer programme Watchdog investigating Ebay’s lack of response to fake designer goods being sold on their auction site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCrzFkbYnWw
Looks like nothing has changed in the past years since this article was published. EBay is as the video states “washing their hands of the problem.
fightflashfraud said
We know! Yes, we are fighting against the odds. Ebay does not seem to care at all about protecting buyers. Paypal claims about buyer protection are almost as worthless. If every victim joined the fight we could succeed. How many battles were won by determined people joining together? I’ll give three examples:
the right to vote for women in the UK
the end to minority white rule in South Africa
the end of segregation in the United States
There have been many more. If people actively join the fight we can win – if victims stand on the sidelines we won’t. It is as simple as that.
Traveler said
Warning buyers who have left positive feedback helps. Ebay only allows 5 messages to other ebay members per day and it is better to stay below that limit. Asking the seller a question about an item for sale can open the opportunity to discuss the fact the buyer has been sold a fake too. If everyone was to do the same and get buyers who have left positive feedback, without realising, to use follow up feedback as well, we would soon help stop a lot of these sales and hopefully prevent more buyers become victims. The suggested feedback I have seen on feedback left for other fake sellers is:
FRAUD – fake capacity – test with h2testw – see: sosfakeflash.wordpress.com.
Traveler said
Demand an end to unfair trade practices
This is the recent request from ebay for the buyer to keep fake sellers on ebay. Or am I getting this wrong? Ebay claim only 0.15% of goods were detected or reported as potentially counterfeit. It proves the comment right about the “Report an Item” needing renamed “Recycle Bin”. I too have reported fakes on a daily basis using this method, until my fingers were sore, to no avail.
Reporting to the brand name owners is the only way to get results. No wonder the brand names want their products removed from ebay. They are witnessing and experiencing ebay’s reluctance to do anything about the counterfeits and are trying to do something about it. Their reputations are being ruined and sales dramatically falling as a result of ebay being flooded with blatant fakes and ebay/paypal doing nothing about it as long as they can line their own pockets.
Someone, somewhere needs to set up a new online marketplace for genuine sellers and buyers to trade fairly and openly, with obvious, transparent policing in constant operation.
Ebay and paypal would fiercely oppose an independent body coming in to police their marketplace. They claim they are doing a competent job already.
The brand name owners do not think so.I personally do not think so.What is your opinion?
fightflashfraud said
I agree Traveler, ebad does seem to be asking buyers to keep fake sellers on ebay! No one should sign up to their evil little petition!
Aaron said
Just had a couple delivered from Hong Kong – before I knew about this site. Also a third was ‘won’ but after paying that vendor is no longer registered so I don’t expect to see anything.
Anyway, I tested like you suggested and found them fake. I phoned Ebay (UK) and they said a full refund would be back in my PayPal account within 3 days – for all three transcations!
Now off to leave negative feedback.
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