Fake Flash Drive Seller Trick

This seller, who lists 64GB flash drive for only $14.99 (attractive price, isn't it?), changes the item location from Hong Kong to United State (USA), sold 800+ in less than 9 days; whereas the item is listed in Hong Kong, sold only 20+ in 20 days

Item listed location in United State: sold 828

Item listed location in Hong Kong: sold 21

Days of listing:

Seller profile and location: China

How much will the seller make per month?
From the statistic, the average sale per day is 100.
It is 3000 flash drive sold in 30 days. Lets say the seller make half of it $7.50 after all the expenses. It is about $22500 USD.
As a sale person in China, they make average $200-$300 USD per month. $22500/200 or 300 = 75 ~ 112 times of their monthly salary, almost 6-9 years of work salary!!!

Now, you know why these unethical sellers never go away, the scam has been running since 2007. They will never go away until eBayers are educated to help themselves.

Believe me or not?

How hard shall I work to convince you that is FAKE?

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Subject: Re: delsonu has sent a question about item
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:41:00 -0400

You are right , over 5g files copy , and then the file has problems...

Thanks for your info

B.L

----- Original Message -----

From: eBay Member: delsonu

To: 

Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2010 7:55 PM

Subject: Re: delsonu has sent a question about item

eBay sent this message toYour registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay. Learn more.

	Buyer has responded to your question about this item

Do not respond to the sender if this message requests that you complete the transaction outside of eBay. This type of offer is against eBay policy, may be fraudulent, and is not covered by buyer protection programs. Learn More.

Dear bxxxx, It is not about the speed. The drive has real capacity of few GB, not 128GB. Copy few large movie files (5-10GB in total) and then try to play the movies. The worst part is you will encounter data corruption and lose your valuable data. It is your choice. I am sorry to bother you. Good luck. BR, - delsonu

Did this answer your question? If not, let the seller know.

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From:
To: delsonu
Subject: Re: delsonu has sent a question about item
Sent Date: Apr-24-10 16:37:23 PDT

Dear delsonu, You just need to play below 30 buck , what do you want to expect. Kingston need to play more than 300 buck !!! by the way , this drive just speed is half than brand new drive , others no problem until now! - bxxxxxx

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From: delsonu
To:
Subject: Re: delsonu has sent a question about item
Sent Date: 24-Apr-10 15:43:43 EDT

Dear bxxxxx, I found the information. You purchased 2 x 128GB flash drive from " ". I'm sure the flash drives are fake. I have come across them many many times from myself and other eBayers. Please test them out and get your money back. Please let me know the test results. BR, - delsonu

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From:
To: delsonu
Subject: Re: delsonu has sent a question about item
Sent Date: Apr-24-10 07:00:18 PDT

Dear delsonu, You mean 16g flash drive ? it is no brand , the speed is half my original sandisk about 4.4m/s - bxxxxxx

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From: delsonu
To:
Subject: delsonu has sent a question about item
Sent Date: 23-Apr-10 19:34:15 EDT

Dear bxxxxx, I search for fake flash drive sellers. I noticed you purchased one recently. Can you please test it thoroughly and let me know whether it is fake or not. http://delsonu.blogspot.com/ - delsonu

Tough Fight For Refund

She is one of the eBayers that I have helped in this month. She spends about $80+ USD to buy a 128GB Sony flash drive from a USA seller. After receiving my message, she checks Sony website and can not find the product. I do not what she has written to the seller but she gets a very nasty reply back from the seller.

"Here's an example of one of the messages he sent me today:

YOU LYING SCUMBAG!

Why don't you prove that it is NOT a Sony flash drive!

I advertised a "no questions asked 15 day return for full refund", and told you to send it back if you wanted and I would issue a refund WHEN I RECEIVED IT, yet you filed a false complaint with Paypal!!!

YOU ARE LYING SCUM!!!

I REALLY need to STOP selling on ebay and dealing with mentally diseased and lying pieces of human garbage like YOU!!!

Since you're such a lying piece of garbage, I'm now disputing your complaint!!!

You're claiming it's not a Sony when the package and the flash drive say Sony right on it.

Good luck proving it's not!!!
"  

Is safe to buy from USA seller? Not at all.


Here is the message from other eBayer:

Dear delsonu,

I am very appreciative that you are spending the effort to call attention to this problem. I have been burned many times trying to get a big flash drive cheap. I figured if I backed off on the size and paid more I wouldn't get scammed. Well, it isn't true. Even a $1 per gigabyte, and with a USA vendor I got junk. At least the return shipping fees were nominal.

And with all the counterfeits being sold, the fact it says Kingston or Lexmark doesn't mean anything. Some how, some sanity needs to be be brought into play. Your 'auctions' are doing a lot of good to shine light on this problem area.

- exxxxx

Victim of Fake Flash Drive Scam in April 2010

I sometime contact eBayers to warn them about fake flash drive. Somehow, eBay starts to block me to message other eBayers. :-(

Dear delsonu, Thanks delsonu,youre right...couldnt even get 5GB to load so better chase up the seller. Thanks again , Stephen -

Click "respond" to reply through Messages, or go to your email to reply

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From: delsonu
To:
Subject: delsonu has sent a message
Sent Date: 15-Apr-10 17:44:53 AEST

Dear ,

I search for fake flash drive sellers. I noticed you purchased one recently. Can you please test it thoroughly and let me know whether it is fake or not.

http://delsonu.blogspot.com/

- delsonu

128GB Kingston Data Traveller 200 DT200 for only $24.95

Unbelievable price for 128GB Kingston Data Traveler 200 DT200 for only $24.95 selling in eBay.

The seller, who just switches from selling jewelry to flash drive memory, sold 300 piece of flash drives in 2 days. INCREDIBLE Money Making Scam. I am not sure how many people going to get hurt while he/she is laughing on the way to bank.

If you are are one of Kingston purchasers, here is the link to verify your Kingston authentic http://www.kingston.com/asia/verifyflash/

Update: Someone must have reported to eBay, the listing is removed day after I post it.

Update2: One is gone, multiple come back with lower price at $19.99. Hello, it is fake, copy 10GB of movies files and play them, then you will know you have been scammed.

I'm not alone to fight against fake flash memory sellers

Here is the message sent by UK eBayer.


Hi there, I have been working with a few people to expose this issue, much like yourself. We have purchased a total of 205 Leather USB pens, from 15 different vendors in the HK and China areas. All were purchased between 128GB and 512GB, and all were fakes. I also have emails from certain China Vendor from a site called Alibaba.com, that admit these are just 'upgrade' pens and not genuine, BUT ONLY when pushed on warranty, explain the fact we have a full testing service, and authorities will be informed if they supply fakes. The Chinese seem only interested in ripping people off, and could care less about any consequences unless you mention the Kunming Public Security Bureau. We are currently trying hard to get $135 USD sent back.

Ethical vs Unethical sellers

The difference between ethical sellers vs unethical sellers is one knows the item is fake or counterfeit, they will remove it from their listing. In contrast, unethical sellers continue to sale the item even though they know it is fake.

I have worked with few eBayers who purchase their flash drives from China wholesale website like DHGATE and then resell it in eBay to make some profits. After they learn the product is fake or counterfeit, they remove it quickly from eBay. We have to give these ethical sellers a big applause.

Someone asks me whether it is seller's fault. The answer is yes and no. You need to have good knowledge of firmware level of knowledge to fake flash drive. I certainly believe it is done in manufacturer's house. It is not a normal seller who has this kind of knowledge to do it; however, the seller know it is fake but still continue to sell it, then it is seller's fault.
The big guys behind the scene must be caught in order to eliminate the problem. One great eBayers from Australia provides good information to me that you can file a report to Hong Kong Internet Fault Police (google search), they will follow up the case. If you are interested to do so, you can contact me for more information.

April Action on Fake Flash Memory Devices on eBay

After changing my eBay listing to auction style, I am able to reach more eBayers. Many unethical sellers whom I monitor in March are gone but new comers show up in April. Majority of new comers are labeled to be located in Singapore.


I expand my listing to Australia, UK and German eBay site, I hope more people can read my listing and beware of the issue.


I'm not sure how long I can keep up on posting auction style. It it very time consuming but  I will try my best to fight against unethical sellers. Thank you for your support.