Fight Back
Updated!
Three important articles you should read:
A lot of people make the mistake in thinking flash memory is something that is supposed to become cheaper all the time. Nothing is further from the truth.
Here are the job descriptions, the ways people fight back against fake flash memory sellers on eBay. There are different styles and ways, something to suit everyone’s personality and abilities.
As progress continues, the battle becomes nastier and more sneaky. eBay and fake flash sellers continue to pull new tricks, anything and everything to try and evade.
It means we have to try harder.
More buyers are being refunded. Listings pulled. Previous victims over the past two years have fought very hard, not only for themselves but for you. They knew more new victims would be coming to SOSFakeFlash for help and so they contributed.
There was a time eBay and PayPal just ignored victims, not any longer. Can you guess why? FIGHT BACK!
If you have been a victim of fake flash purchase(s):
Please read the category for your situation. You might want to print as your action plan.
- Internet purchase General
- Local Retailer
- eBay
Internet Purchase General
If you have been able to confirm you have a counterfeit flash drive and the seller did not refund you and or the seller refused to test and respond to you with the results (confirming your fake or denying there is an issue, note: a counterfeit drive is not defective – it has been digitally altered – reprogrammed to lie about it’s size) – please report the internet site and seller to your local law authorities and to the law authorities in the country where the site exists (if different from yours).
If the fake is a “Brand Name” report to the Brand Name Company. Given them the name and location of the site where the counterfeit item was sold.
Local Retailer
If you bought the flash device in a local store, it is very possible that the seller is not aware the item is a fake. Take the following steps:
1) Produce a printout of the test results from H2testw 1.4 – keep your computer text file do not delete.
2) If you have a digital camera, photograph the device, the packaging and also the sales receipt
3) Proceed to the retailer and explain that he has counterfeit drives for sale, show the output.
a) If the seller refunds you, ask him to test and remove the devices for sale. Return in a few days or have a friend return to the store to see if the items have been removed for sale.
b) If the seller refused to refund you or if the devices are still for sale a week or two later, report to the local police and present your evidence (test results, photos) and ask them to visit the retailer and to have the devices checked.
If the seller is cooperative, do not be angry – understand the seller could be a victim like you. Be helpful and suggest this site for the seller to learn more about the issue. He will need to contact his wholesaler or whomever sold him the drives. You had a battle of one or two fake flash items, he may have boxes full. Worse he may have sold many drives and could have a lot of angry customers coming soon. Advise the seller that he should refund and also to have the angry buyers visit our site. Tell the seller that he should explain that a customer warned him and so he went to this site and tested his drives learning he had been sold bad merchandise. This is why he is refunding – immediately (an apology can also make a big difference too).
Do not think all members of our groups are buyers – we have sellers working in this project – they are victims just like you see: eBay Sellers Can Be Victims – How Does This Happen? they are working side by side with buyers to fight the problem.
eBay
1. Test your drive.
2. File a Claim with Paypal
3. Report the seller to eBay
4. Report the fake to us (see report fake tab)
5. Contact eBay Buyers who bought the drive you bought – ask them to test. Tell them about this site.
6. If the seller is still listing the model do as FakeStopper suggests:
So I suggest to everyone, go to your listing which you brought and it fake, click on “report this item”, select “fraudulent listing” and select the list from there.
Do this especially when the listings are private auctions! They are in violation of eBay’s intent for the auction of this type. Search this site to understand why private auctions are so lethal and against what ebay intended them for. Fake Flash sellers are abusing them to hide their fake flash deeds.
So the more people to report the item the higher chances the seller will be stop!
You might get a sore wrist from mousing on 5 and 6 , but channel your anger and frustration to positive action. Save a few more eBayers! We need more volunteers – the number of victims just too many. If they indeed have fakes – pass the torch to them – get them to contact more eBayers and rescue them from fake flash flames. The march against fake flash began with just one person… It did not take long before others joined and now we are a project against fake flash!
Do Delight in overloading eBay with reports on the bad listings. An ice bucket of reports might get them to wake up to a seller. By reporting the listings – especially private auction ones, you will help them to zero in and focus their attention on these sellers. If you consider how many listings there are on eBay, they do need help. Oblige!
It’s time eBay started deliver what they promised….improved buyer experience. Since Spring 2008 – it more a nightmare “experience” for those who bought flash devices on eBay – anything but pleasant!
As for Paypal – expect a fight. Research this site. You might get a quick refund or you might have to put on your boxing gloves. If your seller deregistered you can still get your money back. Many of us did. Do not let them run away with your money. PayPal and eBay have to take ownership for permitting the sale of fake flash for so many years without setting proper guidelines and safe guards for this type of merchandise. All victims agree on one thing, both eBay and PayPal have earned a great deal of money allowing fake flash sellers to do business under their tent.
Did your fake flash purchase on eBay bring you misery and frustration? Data loss? Money loss? Fight back.
SOSFakeFlash 
Danneq said
I have received a full refund from Luckybidded so I have closed the Ebay case against him. He asks me to change my feedback, but now it is my turn to be unable to comply. Ebay policy clearly states that feedback extortion is not allowed.
DUPEDBYCHINA – The group sounds interesting. I’ll drop you an e-mail.
Jonno said
KittyFireFlash said: “bleitz-krieg is an accurate description.”
‘Blitzkrieg’ would be better, but the sentiment’s there!
I’d be happy to consider DupedByChina’s invitation, but I need more clarification on the point I raised in my post of 27 April.
Is it possible to create an eBay ID without valid bank details? If so would this only be useful for Angel activities such as contacting other members who’d already become victims and no use for posting warning items?
grump3 said
Hi Jonno.
I found it easy enough setting up a 2nd ebay ID using a fictitious name, secondary postal address + throw-away webmail address.
Did this back in June 08 to win a fake seller’s every listing & left neg feedback info without payment.
Expecting to be booted by ebay, I then abandoned the ID.
Recent checks revealed that ID still functions but with a zero score, it is restricted to just one ‘Respond’ warning daily so is of limited benefit unless I start using it for some cheap purchases.
Anyone know the minimum required score to achieve the Five Daily Responds I’m allowed on my regular ID?
Here in Australia Ebay now has a rule that Paypal must be offered as one of the payment options by sellers.
I’ve never sold on Ebay but I imagine this prevents us from becoming a seller to place a warning listing (also dummy bidding on ‘Paypal only, Buy it Now’ items) without supplying ebay with a valid credit card or bank details?
DupedByChina said
Jonno and Grump3:
I use my regular Ebay account for buyer warning messages and buyer warning listings on ebay. I haven’t had a problem. The only thing that has happened is that these fake-sellers have added me to their list of buyers who aren’t allowed to bid on their items. I wear that as a badge of honor. Also, I consider it to be a unique, additional level of ebay security that most users dont enjoy.
Jonno said
Sellers on Ebay UK also must offer PayPal in UK, too. Does this mean I can’t create a new identity so I’ll have to use my normal account for any Angel activities?
red said
Jonno,
I recently created a new id on the main US site. I did not have to enter any payment (bank, credit card, etc) details. I have since purchased a few items with that id. For payment I was redirected to paypal where I signed-on with my usual paypal account.
As with DupedByChina, I use my regular id for Angel activities. There is little risk.
red said
Danneq,
Way to fight!!
ndspro is very aggressive with feedback extortion. They have 118 revised feedback. And there is lots of follow-up with phrases similar to ‘I am willing to remove the bad feedback for the seller’. Stand your ground. Keep fighting!
grump3 said
Jonno said:
Does this mean I can’t create a new identity so I’ll have to use my normal account for any Angel activities?
It just means any new account has to achieve a set number of purchases to be allowed the 5 daily RESPONDS you require to warn buyers.
However to also sell with that new ID a Paypal account is required & as ebay/paypal are one & the same, the connection between both your main ID as well as the new one will be obvious to them.
Fakeflash said
Why not overwhelm Ebay with auctions detailing that Ebay is loaded with Fake flash USB’s? I post two cost free $0.99, 7 day ads a day with a complete warning about fake flash. It costs me nothing and takes little time to post. If Ebay buyers are too lazy to read these ads and see the risk, then contacting them later after they have been had will also do no good. I think the better strategy is to have every “angel” post 2 ads everyday like I do similar to:
1. “128gb 16gb 32gb 64gb 256gb USB flash fake report”
2. “128 16 32 64 256 gb USB flash fake report”
Sooner or later buyers will read these ads and get the information they need to stay away from this junk.
This takes much less time than making a report of counterfeit USBs to Ebay or writing 5 victims that they got screwed and they probably will not get their money back.
When a buyer searches and sees so many ads for fakes, you won’t have to worry about only being able to contact 5 suckers a day with the Ebay messaging. You will contact far more than 5 people a day with a proactive ad cost free $0.99 auction for the information about fake flash. Who knows, somebody might buy the report as well
If enough buyers see the ad and start buying less of these crappy USBs then the sellers will not be offering it so much. Fewer people will get burned.
I have gotten enough feedback from potential buyers who are now informed, to know this is a better use of my time than making reports to Ebay and contacting people who got burned already.
Just my two cents.
KittyFireFlash said
Hi Fakeflash,
Your opinion is worth a lot more then two cents!
Free exchange and voicing of ideas and opinions are important for us all on how to fight this battle.
Yes, we absolutely need more warning listings. There used to be a lot of them in our early days and it drove prices down and educated people in a flash (pardon my humour). The problem is, a lot of people made mistakes. Listings without offering something concrete or allowable. They had their “Angel feathers” pulled out, one by one by eBay the bad. Some had their id’s suspended. Their accounts locked and so on. Some buyers only had a 4 watt brain and accused of viruses when the item had as yet not been sent – real nutters.
You, I am proud to say, are a lot sharper and smarter. To fight this battle more effectively as you recommend we need more people to follow in your footsteps. But to be smart about it. You have demonstrated that. Selling the personal “story” now that is perhaps one of the best possible items, since something real must be offered.
We do still recommend people use a secondary id, not their main one.
Also during the days of eBay being nasty, we were as yet accumulating evidence and information. They thought they could ignore us and get away with it.
The sheer volume at SOSFakeFlash and all the other sites now, make that impossible.
We see them acting on information we present and it is very possible that they have now decided we are the lesser of two evils and decided to allow listers to set up their listings right beside the fakes being offered (closing their eyes). A genuine flash memory seller has nothing to fear from the listings you suggest. They will welcome it (and secretly cheer!).
People should list as you suggest after they have created a short little document of their personal “story”. It is an onsite opportunity to provide advice and counselling on the spot. However, people need to be aware that this has to be an ongoing thing.
About FakeFlashAngels and messages.
They are to:
1) warn and rescue buyers
2) increase negative feedback and disputes
3) to have victims now aware spread the truth, far and wide
4) empower people to fight back against a seller and receive personal satisfaction.
Those who elect to help are usually those who have suffered great financial loss and or just for the principals involved.
In the old days, FakeFlash, we were able to reach victims BEFORE THE ITEMS ARRIVED! eBay expended a great deal of effort and $ to stop this. Yes, readers this is true. We believe they hoped to choke us off and put an end to our work. The opposite happened and we became even more determined. It only made it more clear they had absolutely no interest in the welfare of buyers, only the fees they would collect from sellers.
The reduction to 5 a day messages for contacting buyers to warn, is not enough to end this problem, alone.
What you suggest FakeFlash can keep the problem from growing, even reduce it (exactly what is needed). Those billboard listings are very much needed.
Readers, if your language is not English please don’t just list in your country but use worldwide. This way your message can reach all who read your language and warn them. If fake flash memory sellers can list in languages other than english, so can you. In fact, some rotate, listing in one langauge for a few weeks (especially titles) then in another for the next few weeks, it keeps them one step ahead of being discovered and booted from eBay.
DupedByChina said
FAKEFLASH:
Why not do both, post warning items in ebay AND contact 5 buyers of fake items daily? I do.
You’re right it takes almost no effort at all to post the warning items for sale in ebay. The only time you spend is what it takes to set up the ads. The cost is free if $0.99. Once the sale ends, you just re-post the item for sale again. One click of the mouse. It does warn people. I’ve had about 50 views of my ads and some thank you notes. The only problem is hundreds of other buyers have bought fake memory products without ever seeing the sale items.
FakeFlashAngels that send 5 warning messages a day spend less than 5 minutes a day doing this. I keep a document on my desktop with my custom warning message. I just go, click on a positive feedback fake buyer, and copy and paste the message and click send. It couldn’t be easier.
A while ago, I bought two fake, false capacity memory products on ebay. I never saw a warning sale item. I wish I had seen one. No one ever sent me a buyer warning message asking me to test either. I had to learn the hard way, by losing data. I sure wish some generous, kind person had warned me, either before or after the sale.
grump3 said
After reading the above posts I did an ebay search for Fake Flash to see how these warning auctions were worded.
Came upon a seller doing the same thing as well as supplying lot’s of info on this scam!
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Genuine-4GB-Ultra-thin-stainless-steel-avoid-fake-flash-/170478533566?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_USB_Flash_Drives&hash=item27b14ffbbe
Item No: 170478533566
TechChips said
Thanks Grump3!
As KittyFireFlash says, honest eBay sellers have nothing to fear from SOSFakeFlash. They really need our help!
They are having a lot of trouble selling, everyone wants cheap and big for almost nothing in cost. Big, big mistake.
You get what you pay for. Pay fair and honest prices and you will probably receive a genuine item. Try to get everything for next to nothing…. prepare to receive a FAKE!
Thx for sharing Grump3. Great work as usual.
Chuckie said
> If Ebay buyers are too lazy to read these ads and see the risk…
It’s not that simple — there are two basic ways of searching for flash memory on eBay:
a) You just enter something like “64GB flash drive” into the main search field. In this case, you will find dozens of warning reports, and yes, it is quite irresponsible to ignore them.
b) You search for the items using the category system — you go to something like “Computers & Networking > Drives & Storage > Flash Memory Drives” or “Cell Phone & PDA Accessories > Memory Cards” (and then you possibly further refine the search). And among the results of this search, you won’t find that many warnings. (My first testing search showed only one warning among the first 1000 results.) That’s because it could be considered more-or-less against eBay policies to list ebook reports in categories like this one — many reports are posted under “Everything Else”, so that eBay wouldn’t persecute their authors.
red said
I’m able to send 5 with a score of 5. Don’t know if that’s a minimum though.
FakedOut said
I am fighting with PayPal to get my money back from a 32GB SD card bought from Xoldskool right before he was kicked off ebay and obviously before I knew about this website.
My dilema is this: PayPal sent me an automated message to return the item at my cost. I will not do this because it is a fake. I called them and told them this so now I’ve been sent a response that I must provide:
“a document from an unbiased, third-party, such as a dealer,appraiser, or an organization that is qualified in the area of the item in question (other than yourself), which clearly identifies the item as not authentic. The document must specifically state how the item received differs from an authentic item and must include a detailed explanation of
how the person evaluating the item determined that it is not authentic. If possible, the document should include a serial number, and must be on letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the business or organization so that PayPal may contact them if necessary.”
PLEASE HELP!!! I have copied your form letter from the earlier post but I need a letter head and phone # so that they can contact them??? What now??? What do I do???
grump3 said
I was recently in the identical situation.
I contacted a PC repair service technician who presented me with his company invoice/account statement detailing his result via H2testw & his opinion that the item was a fake 2GB device, not the claimed 32GB.
Faxed that to Paypal, was then instructed to destroy the fake after which I was refunded.
Hajemi Hassan said
Good day all,
This seller (grandtechdigital) is trying to tempt me with a spy camera as a compensation and I can keep the fake card (32 GB SDHC SD card @ 4GB card). I am not budging and I still want my full refund. BTW do anybody here happen to know somebody that had been refunded by this seller? I just want to know whether the seller requested for the item to be sent back to Hong Kong (residential address was given) or straight away reimbursed after complain was lodge. Thanks
Kind regards
Pwntatochips said
Im same with 68, for me previously he asked for me to send it back and paypal asked too, but he lives in Hong Kong, how the heck do I do that? If you dispute on paypal they give you his address and email etc. My question against Grandtechdigital, is like i’m pretty sure he will make you send it back just to be more of a d.ic.k so how do I do it and what way is the cheapest?
William said
OK now what? I submitted info to SOSFAKEFLASHDRIVE,I guess all I can do now is sit back and wait,Can anybody give me an idea on a scale of 1 to 10 what our chances are of getting funds returned
Whats with people? Man I hate thiefs and scammers,If I could ever get my hands around any of their throats I would squeeze so hard they would look like Grandpa Smurf
Thanks for all your hard work guys
Cheers,William
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KittyFireFlash said
Addresses. We NEED address information on sellers you verify! Please do your best to send in any information you have. It is important. We are working on detecting the counterfeit rings. You help is needed!
Gregsbeenscrewed said
I am a bit confused with the people on this site. As a person who just lost $500 by trying to buy Micro SDHC cards to sell from a China supplier, I am very complexed at the people who blame others for there loss. As a buyer you must do your homework. If everything looks good then you buy, I did. Nothing says that you still won’t get bit, again I did. I looked for several weeks for a supplier and thought I found one. I could find nothing on them that says they were a scam team. I sent money Western union. Package arrived, I tested and they were crap. Guess whos fault that it is, RIGHT. MINE. As kids we have been taught, say it with me now “If its too good to be true it most likely is.” If you bought a card retail for $30 that normally sells for $60, it most likely will be fake. It does not mean you are being frauded on, because being an electronic component it could be DOA. Give the seller an opportunity unless there has been a rash of them. Overall people, you cannot force PayPal, your Credit Card company or even eBay to give you back your money. They are a third party business acting a meeting ground for you and the seller. If your complaint is against a seller then I am all in, if you are complaining that you lost money and want a refund from anybody other than the seller then stop complaining. Spend you time wisley and post in as many places as you can about the seller.
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