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Author Topic: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!  (Read 3445 times)

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stevetoney

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Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« on: February 11, 2015, 09:01:00 AM »
***WARNING.  Do not buy deeply discounted SDXC flash media off ebay****

The new generation of recorders and music players are capable of using the super high capacity SDXC and micro SDXC cards, so I'm sure more and more of us will be trying to hunt down the most economical options for SDXC media.  I wanted to make everyone aware of a major internet scam that's going on where fake cards are being distributed with false labeling.

The bottom line of the scam is people are selling cards on ebay that look like they're deeply discounted brand name high capacity cards, but in reality they're cheap small cards dressed in sheeps clothing.  These cards are bootlegs...they have all of the same packaging down to the labeling of the actual card.  The scam works really well because most people don't realize they've been scammed until much MUCH later (and some may never realize they've been scammed) since the cards will seem to format properly in their machine (somehow your machine will format and show you that you have, for example, a card with 128GB of storage space).  So you start using the card and it works just fine...UNTIL you exceed the REAL capacity of the card.  So oftentimes you've paid a price thinking you've received a 128gb card but you actually received a 2gb or 4gb card instead.  It works fine in your camera or recorder until you exceed that much data.  That's when you start having problems...files appear in your directory, but then they disappear after transferring the files (since they were never there in the first place)...files you thought you'd recorded are never recorded, etc.  The scam is effective because a lot of people don't find out until two, three, four months later that their card is bad because they haven't filled the card up enough to learn that they have a fake.

There are a number of ways to detect a fake card.  Do a google search to find various methods people have used.

The bottom line here is that you should buy your flash media from reputable dealers...don't buy from ebay.  You're going to pay more than the discounted prices you see on ebay for sure, and I know it can be tempting to take a chance on getting a good card at a cheap price, but unfortunately I think you just have to assume that the media on ebay is all going to be fake. 

Learn from my mistake and save yourself in the long run.



« Last Edit: February 11, 2015, 09:05:12 AM by tonedeaf »

Offline H₂O

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2015, 09:10:21 AM »
FWIW - It has long (I remember looking into this as far back as 2007) been published all over the web that almost all (something like 75-90% is an estimate I read somewhere) FLASH media on ebay is FAKE.

NEVER BUY FLASH MEDIA OFF EBAY!


Only buy from legit online stores like B&H, Amazon (only if sold by Amazon), Adorama, Newegg (again only if sold by Newegg), etc or from your local Staples, Best Buy, Office Depot, etc

Anywhere else just assume it's FAKE!
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Offline dallman

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2015, 02:34:25 PM »
Thanks Stevie!

I know there have been eBay scams, but I may have been tempted and now I will not chance it. I appreciate the heads up!
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adrianf74

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2015, 02:40:55 PM »
Ditto.  And, even then, stick with QUALITY brand name media or you expect problems.  All you need is a some "second tier" product to flake out on you during that once in a lifetime opportunity.  I've always been a fan of Kingston and SanDisk media and have *NEVER* had issues with either of those.

stevetoney

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2015, 02:46:37 PM »
You're welcome Cliff. 

Since getting the Sony PCM-D100, I've been recording onto DSD format.  So I bought a Fiio X3 player off of ebay in order to listen to the uncompressed DSD files.  At the same time, I bought a 128GB fake that wouldn't take even a full show of DSD files...about 6gb of data for two hours of music.   :angry3:

Offline spyder9

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2015, 04:43:36 PM »
The Flash media scam on eBay has been going on for years.  Welcome to the party, Steve.  Sorry for your loss.   :(

stevetoney

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2015, 09:47:42 AM »
The Flash media scam on eBay has been going on for years.  Welcome to the party, Steve.  Sorry for your loss.   :(

Thanks Dan.  Live and learn.  I'm not sure why I'd never read anything about it.  Lucky I guess...or if I did read something way back when I just forgot.  Fortunately, I only spent $35. 

Offline earmonger

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Re: Fake SDXC Cards - AKA Don't Buy Flash Media Off Ebay!
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2015, 10:56:10 AM »
There's a free program to test your cards. H2TestW. It overwrites everything on the card, so keep that in mind--test when you first get the card.

Here's one place to get it:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/H2testw.shtml

The original site is in German but you can install the program in English.

http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fdownload%2Fh2testw.html&sandbox=1


Here's a handful of other programs too:

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/test-and-detect-fake-or-counterfeit-usb-flash-drives-bought-from-ebay-with-h2testw/

eBay is land of the fake--great place to get fake phone batteries too! And eBay in a way condones it. You can't report a seller for selling fakes, other than individual feedback on the sale.

 

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