Global – eBay Fake Memory

December 2009, SOSFakeFlash has 72 countries where members have been frauded with false capacity flash memory items purchased on eBay. This report covers 2008 through 2009 and five continents are affected.

Fraudulent eBay sellers continue to earn enormous profit at the expense of buyers unaware of the true cost for flash memory chips. 80% of the cost is the flash chip. To review prices please see:Flash Memory Chips – Prices

The problem on eBay is seven years old. For five years, information on the internet was isolated and hard to find. In the spring of 2008, members decided to do something about the issue as eBay refused to. A project was founded and called the FrankenFlash Project. The early months were secret, gathering information. Overwhelmed by the number of victims, they decided to launch an internet site,SOSFakeFlash. Soon other sites joined the project. The reason the project was founded was not simply because of the millions of dollars involved, but because of the damage reprogrammed flash memory chips do – data loss. The project was co founded, by eBay victims and eBay Sellers of fake memory who were also victims not realizing they has purchased false capacity items.

Over one million flash memory chips are reprogrammed every month to lie about their actual capacity.

The main site for eBay fake flash memory fraud remains SOSFakeFlash. The mandate is to gather information on eBay fake flash memory sellers, document and issue alerts to warn consumers. A great deal of effort is spent on collecting information, preserving it, analyzing it.

Here is a break down of information and metrics they collected in 2008 through 2009. The average bid price earned by fraudulent sellers based on their registration is included. What is the average bid price an eBay member paid for their fake flash memory item?

Average Prices 2008-2009 Based On eBay Fake Flash Memory Seller Region
flash category	Capacity	Asia	Europe	North America	Oceania
Memory Card	02 GB	$15.75
Memory Card	08 GB	$16.93		$39.98
Memory Card	16 GB	$20.21	$42.22	$23.79
Memory Card	32 GB	$30.60	$42.63	$41.72
MP Player	02 GB	$1.64
MP Player	04 GB	$18.87
MP Player	08 GB	$25.60		$29.48
MP Player	16 GB	$29.37	$47.20	$25.00	$27.99
MP Player	32 GB	$40.03
Pen Drive	512 MB	$0.88
Pen Drive	02 GB	$3.29			$7.53
Pen Drive	04 GB	$13.23
Pen Drive	08 GB	$12.90	$14.92	$15.67
Pen Drive	16 GB	$15.74	$20.76	$23.48	$21.50
Pen Drive	32 GB	$28.99	$44.44	$40.88	$48.81
Pen Drive	40 GB	$36.88
Pen Drive	64 GB	$48.32	$79.67	$75.72	$93.94
Pen Drive	80 GB	$27.00
Pen Drive	120 GB		$94.31
Pen Drive	128 GB	$94.21	$86.48	$80.00
Spy Pen Video	08 GB	$17.83

Generally eBay sellers in Asia charge the least for fake mp3 mp4 players, memory cards and usb flash drives. They also sell in the highest volume. Most sellers outside of Asia, buy their false capacity memory items from wholesaler sites in the Orient. Some know they are selling fakes, some do not, most are lured by a “get rich quick” scheme and do not bother to research their product or the actual costs of flash memory chips.

eBay members think flash memory items are cheaper on eBay because the middle men are removed. They assume that retail outlets are making enormous profits. This is not true. Local retail outlets do not make a large profit margin on usb pensticks, memory cards or mp3 mp4 players. If you review the spot prices for flash memory chips, you will see that eBay members are in error. They pay a terrible price for their mistake. Many lose a great deal of money due to a quick bidding frenzy and a lot lose precious files and data they can never recover.

Average Bid Price eBay Accumulative 2008 – 2009
Flash Category	Capacity	Avg $US
Memory Card	02 GB	$15.75
Memory Card	08 GB	$20.72
Memory Card	16 GB	$20.89
Memory Card	32 GB	$30.84
MP Player	02 GB	$1.64
MP Player	04 GB	$18.87
MP Player	08 GB	$25.64
MP Player	16 GB	$29.35
MP Player	32 GB	$40.03
Pen Drive	512 MB	$0.88
Pen Drive	02 GB	$4.70
Pen Drive	04 GB	$13.23
Pen Drive	08 GB	$13.21
Pen Drive	16 GB	$16.32
Pen Drive	32 GB	$30.67
Pen Drive	40 GB	$36.88
Pen Drive	64 GB	$56.88
Pen Drive	80 GB	$27.00
Pen Drive	120 GB	$94.31
Pen Drive	128 GB	$90.17
Spy Pen Video	08 GB	$17.83

SOSFakeFlash is reporting an escalation in eBay fake flash memory sales. They fight hard to educate buyers and to assist them. eBay continues to refuse to listen or change the policies for listing flash memory products. According to SOSFakeFlash, eBay is engaged in racing to hide the evidence and assists the fraudulent sellers, not the victims. They do not warn members for a seller confirmed to sell fake memory products, they do not automatically issue refunds with an apology to buyers. When they suspend a seller, it is an opportunity to remove the sellers listings. This hides the fraud as many victims are unable to review their listing purchase – it vanishes. Also eBay members are robbed of the opportunity to leave feedback. When they suspend and deregister a seller, victims are unable to leave feedback.

As SOSFakeFlash continues to fight the fraud, eBay fraudulent sellers change their behavior.

Fake Flash Memory On Ebay Escalates. SOSFakeFlash Status Report 20091031. Fake Memory Cards, MP3 MP4 Players, USB Flash Drive PenSticks. How To Fight Against Fraud.

If you are a victim on eBay you are encouraged to report to SOSFakeFlash. It matters. See their Report A Fake tab for details.

If your flash memory item is behaving strangely, you need to test it. Read:

H2testw 1.4 – Gold Standard In Detecting USB Counterfeit Drives

The programme is free.

Those engaged in fraud can easily programme flash memory chips to any size. They follow consumer trends carefully. As higher genuine capacity becomes available, they just reprogamme to match the new sizes.

Presented by year quarter, eBay fake flash sellers are matching what is becoming popular on the consumer market. Not difficult to do. They use usb flash controller chips that have flaws, ones that are easily manipulated with the right software.

FixFakeFlash has documented the controller chips in their Flash Chip Part-Num category. The technical members of the FrankenFlash Project have successfully manipulated flash storage chips to report sizes as high as 1 terabyte to operating systems. All that is needed is the right software tool.

What can you do to a 2GB flash drive storage chip? Depending on the usb controller chip for a pendrive you can easy make it lie about it’s true capacity to an operating system.

A 2GB flash storage chip that had a MXT6208 usb controller was changed from 2GB to 256GB in a matter of minutes.

The operating system reported.

We agree with SOSFakeFlash. Do not buy any mp3 mp4 players, memory cards or usb flash drive pen sticks on eBay. It is not safe. eBay has no consumer protection for these items. You buy at your own risk. You will not receive assistance from eBay if you are a victim of fraud. If you paid with PayPal, expect misery. SOSFakeFlash as many comments from eBay members who have suffered unimaginable horrors when trying to receive a refund from PayPal.

People interested in buying usb flash drives, memory cards and MP Players need to do their homework, research the prices for flash memory chips. Failure to do so, can lead to an experience on eBay that will be a nightmare.