eBay seller fufu$$ was reported to SOSFakeFlash for selling Counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler usb flash drives by an eBay buyer. SOSFakeFlash investigated and as a result published an alert to warn people see: fufu$$ Ebay Fake Flash Seller Alert – Australia – Counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler
Shortly after the alert went out three things things happened:
1. fufu$$ eBay seller quickly changed his feedback to private to hide the negative left.
2. fufu$$ sent an email to SOSFakeflashDrive@gmail.com protesting
3. 4 comments in quick session were left on the alert post protesting no problems with the usb flash drives
Changing feedback to private is not what honest eBay sellers do. SOSFakeFlash has seen this behavior many times when a fake flash seller is trying to avoid detection.
The email received by SOSFakeFlash from the seller said:
From: farizh chama <farizh@removed as a kindness.com>
Date: May 18, 2009 8:04 PM
Subject: suspect seller
To: sosfakeflashdrive@gmail.com
Hi I am on your lost of suspected seller under user id fufu$$. You have stated that you have contacted me by email however I have not yet received the email, and am writing as I am a reputable seller to ebay and cannot comprehend how my name is on such a list. Yes I did have a issues with my usbs however I have refunded all unhappy members there money back.
I have stopped selling these usb’s. So please take my name off this list as I do want to contnue using my account and having my name on this has destroyed my reputation as a seller and buyer.
And as such it is unethical to place members on the suspect list when there is no evedience to establish whether or not what they are selling are fakes, and maybe until such can be proven then the members name can be added to the fake list.
look foward to hearing from you.
regards
Farizeh Shama
SOSFakeFlash never contacted or emailed fufu$$. We no longer perform outreach missions inside of eBay to sellers. Given the crises in fake flash on eBay SOSFakeFlash has it’s hands full investigating claims to ensure that the information is valid. Alerts are serious. eBay is being actively patrolled by many for fake flash usb devices, ebay members have had enough of this problem – five years is just too long. It has to end. Some are extremely experienced in detecting potential fakes.
The site in question said:
Here is another 64GB flash drive on the Australian ebay site. We don’t think this is likely to be genuine – we think fufu$$ bought these from wholesalers in China who are selling counterfeits manufactured by fraudsters
The FrankenFlash Project has found an alarming number of these drives for sale at very cheap prices on wholesale sites in the Orient. Sellers must ensure they do their homework prior to selling on eBay and testing any flash memory devices prior to listing for true capacity. It is not eBay’s job to test them and it is not the Project’s job – the responsibility lies with the seller.
FlashChipTutor and InspectorTech did a lot of research on these wholesaler sites and wrote:
They found you could actually buy a 32GB Kingston DT150 32GB DataTraveler for as little as $14 US!
A lot of effort went into researching the cost of flash drive chips: Read What Are The Real Costs For Flash Chips In China? Guide 2009 You can’t sell a whole usb flash drive below the cost of the flash chip inside!
It was also predicted that the costs would be going up due to the fact that manufacturers have scaled back production to reduce existing inventory surplus. And no, they will not sell the chips at below cost. They can’t. As with most companies they have suffered serious financial losses recently. Sure enough one seller contacted his supplier and this is what he had to say:
https://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/apealy-ebay-fake-flash-seller-alert-china/#comment-1850
SOSFakeFlash did not mention fufu$$ was a suspect, SOSFakeFlash issued an alert.
To issue an alert can only mean one thing…. SOSFakeFlash has the evidence already.
The case is still in progress with additional information being uncovered. Sellers who rush to make feedback private set off additional warning bells.
At the moment fufu$$ is not on the eBay fake flash sellers list, but will be at the next update. fufu$$ states that it is unethical to place a seller on a list without evidence. We agree. Here are the test results for the Counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler:
Warning: Only 64372 of 65483 MByte tested.
The media is likely to be defective.
3.9 GByte OK (8272250 sectors)
58.9 GByte DATA LOST (123561606 sectors)
Details:0 KByte overwritten (0 sectors)
360 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 720 sectors)
58.9 GByte corrupted (123560886 sectors)
0 KByte aliased memory (0 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x000000000005a028
Expected: 0xb9d7cf9f2d8a71f1
Found: 0xb9d7cf9f2d8a31f1
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 4.59 MByte/s
Reading speed: 3.06 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4
fufu$$ says all “Unhappy buyers” were refunded. Not so. What do you think caused fufu$$ to be reported and investigated? In hiding feedback fufu$$ has purposely made invesigating more difficult. Those who bought usb flash drives from the seller have difficulty finding each other to compare what they received. Fake? Good? That unfortunately is what hiding feedback is all about.
Do we know how many were sold? We have a pretty good idea. We can say about £1600 in eBay listing sales were generated for this item. Return all that money to buyers? That would indeed be interesting and unusual. In hiding feedback it certainly does not look like fufu$$ wants to be honourable and do the right thing. Are more eBayer’s about to visit the Paypal dispute console? Very likely. Who is likely to know? The seller, eBay and of course PayPal.
The tests above show a 4GB flash drive, not a 64GB flash drive. Anyone who used this drive will begin to lose data after 4GB. This is what the FrankenFlash Project calls “Data Poison“!
When people get fake flash usb drives they start to do research. So what are the observations on this drive by the buyer when compared against a genuine Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler?
1. The main font is slightly (but definitely) different.
2. The actual USB plug is mounted upside down – such that the indicator light (which doesn’t work anyway) is facing downward when the drive is plugged in normally.
3. The lanyard hole is round as opposed the slightly square on the real Kingston.
4. Plastic moulding is poorly finished, with seams and visible.
5. The burgundy coloured outer finish is a very cheap & nasty stick on affair that doesn’t [quite] fit at the edge reliefs.
There is a lot of research going on right now on Kingston DataTraveler counterfeits for the DT150. Here is what another source has to say on Counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler usb flash drives
On a real one the USB connector is engraved and the back of the package has a second Bar Code sticker (see pictures below).
- The counterfeits don’t have a blue light (although there is a spot for it).
- The counterfeits are put together backwards, note on the real one pictured here you can see the copper path through the holes in the USB connector on the counterfeits its black from that side because they are backwards.
- The counterfeit is very light in weight, less half the weight.
- The best way to tell is the size of registered trademark symbol ® after the words DataTraveler on the front side that has 64GB on it, the counterfeit has a very small ®, about the size of one of the small dots on the surface, on a real one its over twice as big ®, see the pictures and compare.
Do you find similarities between the victims report and the observations found on these Counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler’s?
To learn more about these fakes please inspect these photos as reference material:
This is a genuine usb flash drive. Notice the engraving on the usb flash drive connector.
This is the counterfeit and you can see how tiny the registered trademark symbol ® is compared to the genuine drive. Note that counterfeits unlike a genuine drive can come in several different variations.
The other thing that usually distinquishs genuine Kingston Flash drives from counterfeits in the packaging, in particular the back.
Note: quite a few Kingston fakes have serial numbers on their packaging too but you can easliy verify this information, see: Kingston USB Flash Drives – Detect Counterfeits And Fakes – Product Verification If you have one with a serial number, go and verify it. Kingston has put a lot of effort into helping people check the drives they bought to determine if they are genuine or not.
Did the victim of fufu$$ try to resolve the issue in a postitive way? Yes indeed. fufu$$ clung to the idea the usb flash drives were faulty. As you can see from the test results there was nothing faulty here, but a counterfeit and false capacity. The physical description comparisions also make this clear.
It is very important to understand especially with counterfeit brand name drives, they are evidence badly needed by brand name manufacturers to help them combat fraud and counterfeiting. You would have thought that fufu$$ realizing issues with the usb flash drives would have contacted Kingston immediately. Instead the victim buyers are.
There is more to this story of fufu$$ and the counterfeit Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler. The investigation is still in progress.
In the meantime:
SOSFakeFlash advises that you do not buy any Kingston DT150 64GB DataTraveler on eBay. Only buy this flash drive from reputable local retail stores or from a Kingston web site until further notice.
New Update 20100226: Kingston USB Flash Drives. How To Check You Have A Genuine One And Not A Counterfeit – Easy Guide. Kingston Technologies Fighting To Protect Consumers And Itself From Counterfeits.
If you bought from this seller please test your usb flash drive immediately and report in with the information needed. See the Report A Fake Tab
Don’t forget to 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. See what we have on file.
Don’t forget to 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.
SOSFakeFlash 