External SSD Scam
Jason Galterio
Posts: 2,562
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, or if I even should post it on the DAZ Forum.. but I am trying to look out for my fellow DAZites. Particularly since this scam could easily prey on some of the hard drive space issues we have with our libraries.
Recently a bunch of pop up ads have been showing up for external SSD hard drives. Usually touting how small, cheap, and fast they are. They usually also trumpet that they are made of metal and not plastic like typical external drives.
Most, if not all, of these are a scam.
First check the comments on the ad. They usually have a bunch of five star reviews that were posted almost immediately after the initial ad posting. Most of the time the reviews are poorly worded and just odd.
Following those reviews there will be questions from potential customers. These are usually the only entries that have comments from the sellers. Usually the answer is very short and includes a link to their website to buy the item. There won't be any specifics included.
Here is how the scam works...
The drive shows up and seems to work as advertised. You can format it, write data to it, and everything will look good. The properties of the drive will say that it is the size that you purchased.
However the drive actually contains less memory than advertised. The drives are designed to trick your computer into thinking that it is bigger than it really is. Essentially phantom memory.
There is only one sure way to tell the true size of the hard drive: by running an application that specifically looks for this trick.
You might be thinking, well, if I try to write something to it and it doesn't fit... Then I will know the true size. However that's where the second half of the trick comes in.
If you bought a drive that is advertised as 1TB, it might really be 50 GBs. You start writing to the drive and the drive speed will slow down as it approaches the 50GBs. The system will still try to write, but it won't progress. The estimated completion timer will just keep going up and no progress will occur.
Having no other choice you will need to break the copy process and then you will discover that the drive has "crashed." Nothing on the drive will be accessible and you may not even be able to re-format it.
When you contact the seller you will find:
1. They are very helpful and will send you a replacement free of charge.
2. They say that the fault is your system and they aren't going to replace it.
3. They mysteriously disappeared. Never to be found again.
Which of these you get really depends on what stage of the cycle you contact them at. If its early, you will get response 1 so that they can stall for time.
If it's later in the cycle you will get #2 because they are planning to wrap up shop and have nothing to lose.
If it's the end of the cycle you will get #3, because they have already changed their contact information, their company name, and have started new ads.
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Comments
Just to add, I was referring to thumbdrives and M2 style external drives. I've been seeing these ads pop up on Facebook, Amazon, and Etsy. Some of the times with almost believable prices (i.e. 50% off standard price instead of 90% off.)
I just discovered that there are whole videos about the 2.5 inch xSSD turning out to be thumbdrives inside an enclosure. The one I saw looked wildly dangerous to.
those have been around for years, likewise fake graphics cards which appear to be something they are not according to device manager.
Even worse are kill USBs that will destroy an operating system
Yeah, they got me with a thumbdrive last year. I figured it was too good to be true, but was so cheap that I gave it a go... I bought through Amazon so it was easy to get my money back. And Amazon took the listings down a few days later.
I just noticed that they all came back with a vengence recently. I mostly wrote that up for family / friends on Amazon who wouldn't know better.
I was also surprised that they've moved on from the cheap to fake thumbdrives to drives that look like metal M2 holders. That's a lot of overhead cost for a scam.
SSD is the terror that flaps in the night. Another attempt to make a smartphone from a personal computer. Stability is an essential property of a computer. The SSD deprives the computer of this property.
I once bought an Ubuntu usb stick, but that was because I somehow messed up the OS for my computer and was unable to make one for myself.
SSD = Solid State Drive. Do not confuse SSDs with SD Cards.
People scamming people, its nothing new and should be expected; especially at those online sellers given the fact that anyone with half a brain is able to set up a merchant account on there and scam people, then rinse & repeat. I think if Amazon, Etsy, etc., were held more accountable for who they allowed to sell on their site, there would be a lot less scamming & scalping going on there. I think these online shopping sites like Amazon, etc., were the worst things ever implemented in regards to shopping and are making it harder to find stores where you can go and physically inspect merchandise in-person BEFORE buying it.
I like that you can see the product hold the product at a store. Some of their return policies allow for customers who have opened the box who knows if they plugged into their system. Allowing open box sales. I think they should be called what it really is USED. Just like if you buy a car drive it off the lot it's used. They broke the seal open the box held in their hands, at that point a static charge of fewer than 5 volts could cause a problem so I say it's used.
This is why I only buy from reputable, well known retailers such as Amazon and (in the United Kingdom) Curry's.
Cheers,
Alex.
Amazon, Esty. eBay and the like, a lot of scammers sell their stuff on those sites. At least some of those provide protection if you get scammed.
Exactly. The pop up ads I have been seeing (in places frequented by less technically inclined customers) were all coming out of Etsy.
I was surprised to find them back on Amazon as well. The products on Amazon are so badly done that the Q&As are showing information for different products. I would guess because the seller created sold real items for a bit, then cannibalized the page to make it seem like it was a legitimate product.
Anyway, I just wanted to post here in case anyone wasn't aware that a 16TB thumbdrive isn't going to be selling for $49.95.
Maybe a 16 GB thumb drive would?
but I think that might be overwhelming overpriced?
You should be able to get a legitimate, reliable 16GB thumbdrive for less than $10 today.
The Facebook ad I saw yesterday had the 16TB SSD at $49.95 which is impossible. Unless someone was feeling extremelty charitable.
Amazon is awash with 1 to 2 TB thumbdrives in the $20 to $40 range. And I am positive that everyone of them is a scam.
A true 1TB thumbdrive should be $80 or more. Possibly low as $60 if you get really lucky on a sale.
I don't think 2TB thumbdrives even exist at the moment. At least not for the consumer market. You might be able to find industrial market ones, but they come with an industrial price tag.
that is why I added it being overwhelming overpriced. $10 for a 16 GB thumb drive sounds right. Also I doubt a 15 TB HDD would be $60.
I have seen fake USB flash drives in abundance on Amazon that have had their header edited so that the 4GB (or similar lower size storage) instead says it is 32GB, 64GB, and even larger instead. You won't know until you exceed the physical 4GB and find out the USB drive is actually not the claimed 32GB (or whatever). They are typically with a metalic casing. The cheapest you can buy a large storage size USB flash drive in the 64GB, 128GB, or larger storages sizes on Amazon is, everytime I've looked, from PNY. PNY is reliable if not with the Samsung reputation.
I've yet to see any fake SSD drives on Amazon but those are so expensive I don't buy them often.
A product being listed on Amazon is not a guarentee of it not being a scam. People often don't insist on a refund after being scammed and the result is that scammers prosper more than they should. I've personally reported scammers on Amazon regarding "true hybrid rose seeds" (which I know to be an impossibility) and fake computer listings.
I haven't seen the SSDs on Amazon, just Etsy at the moment. Most of the time they look like the cases for M2 drives.
I did find a video on Youtube of someone disassembling a 2.5 inch "SSD" and I was honestly terrified. The amount of glue and cellphone tape... All wrapped around a disassembled USB hub with thumbdrives plugged into it. It just looked like a fire waiting to happen.
I have a portable 4TB USB drive, it did cost $150 though and I bought it from JBHifi in person but it's hardly a thumbdrive still pretty small considering, more palm sized with a cable
Get yourself one of these StarTech.com USB31CSAT3CB USB C To SATA Adapter - for 2.5” SATA Drives - UASP - External Hard Drive Cable - USB Type C to SATA Adapter - Newegg.com Internal hard drives are cheaper. I got one around here someplace that had a 2Tb hard drive attached till I drop the drive. LOL. No extra plugs for the wall socket.
This is my weapon of choice.
ASUS ROG STRIX, all metal enclosure that will mount an M2 drive. Not cheap, but fast. The caveat being that you can only make use of the high speed if you have a USB-C port. If you have to use an adapter to standard USB then the speed fall dramatically.
The case was ~$50 USD, the M2 is going to depend on what size you need. I use two of them to be able to carry my DAZ Library on trips.
The red dot is from a paint marker. I have a few of these so I use the paint markers to color code them so I know whats on them without having to hook up.
Even worse than those are the kill USBs that will burn out your hardware.