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Don't Buy Scammy $100 16TB SSDs on Amazon
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Don't Buy Scammy $100 16TB SSDs on Amazon

Tony40Tony40 Member
edited January 2023 in News

It sounds fake because it is

There are prices that sound “too good to be true,” and then there are prices that sound so good they must be fake. A portable, external 16TB SSD for less than $120 is definitely the latter. 

Before you get all optimistic about storage deals, ReviewGeek bought one of these drives and published a teardown. In this teardown, they found the alleged “16TB USB 3.1 M.2 SSD” was actually a 64GB USB 2.0 micro SD card installed on a .... https://www.tomshardware.com/news/dont-buy-scammy-dollar100-16tb-ssds-on-amazon

(Image credit: Amazon)

Comments

  • This is so shocking that I can't even pull myself together enough to post a surprised Pikachu meme here.

  • I think we all had once bought usb drive stating that it is big as Hamvi and turns out to be camouflaged tuk-tuk.

    Thanked by 2Talistech crunchbits
  • @Anayx said:
    I think we all had once bought usb drive stating that it is big as Hamvi and turns out to be camouflaged tuk-tuk.

    2TB usb stick for 4$, oh yes I remember :D

  • treesmokahtreesmokah Member
    edited January 2023

    @Anayx said:
    I think we all had once bought usb drive stating that it is big as Hamvi and turns out to be camouflaged tuk-tuk.

    I didn't.
    I personally only look for reputable brands of storage. Even if competitors can offer good price:capacity ratio it of course goes with a cost of reliability.
    I'd rather pay more and get a quality product that will outlast a cheaper one(its often cheaper and more time effective this way).

    @Talistech said:

    @Anayx said:
    I think we all had once bought usb drive stating that it is big as Hamvi and turns out to be camouflaged tuk-tuk.

    2TB usb stick for 4$, oh yes I remember :D

    If it sounds too good to be true - it certainly isn't true.

    Thanked by 1Tony40
  • Too bad - it would have worked wonders for storage VPS of some Antarctica provider

    Thanked by 1Tony40
  • MaouniqueMaounique Host Rep, Veteran

    @treesmokah said: I didn't.

    Me neither but for different reasons. I know the costs involved and anything going below that is certainly fake.
    I do, sometimes, buy fake products from ebay. For example I bought a phone knowing it is fake, got money back and kept it because the seller didn't bother to send the label to send it back as I expected.
    I suppose Amazon refunds too, so no harm done, just waste of time.

  • WTF I bought one a few months ago, can I still get a refund?

  • oh no what a shame

  • yoursunnyyoursunny Member, IPv6 Advocate

    @Talistech said:
    2TB usb stick for 4$, oh yes I remember :D

    The device is a counterfeit of type limbo.
    It's still useful for storing a bootloader.


  • @Tony40 said: was actually a 64GB USB 2.0 micro SD card

    Not all of these have a microSD card inside.
    Here's a photo of no-name monolithic USB flash drive installed in a similar fake Amazon external SSD:
    Fake external SSD - Amazon scam

    Thanked by 1Tony40
  • coldcold Member
    edited January 2023

    send it back, and ask for your money !

  • @yoursunny said:

    @Talistech said:
    2TB usb stick for 4$, oh yes I remember :D

    The device is a counterfeit of type limbo.
    It's still useful for storing a bootloader.


    Want to see smaller? I have 16 Meg drives that still work.

    Thanked by 1yoursunny
  • i though small storage is dead?

  • @AuroraZero said:
    Want to see smaller? I have 16 Meg drives that still work.

    *** ENLARGE YOUR STICK ***

  • FatGrizzlyFatGrizzly Member, Host Rep

    @Shot2 said:

    @AuroraZero said:
    Want to see smaller? I have 16 Meg drives that still work.

    *** ENLARGE YOUR STICK ***

    I've become dirty asf. Fuck.

  • ArkasArkas Moderator

    I blame it on Amazon and their stupid new 'mixed reviews' option. What a disaster. Also, let's face it, you got to be missing a screw to believe in this product.

  • emgemg Veteran
    edited January 2023

    The online problems are not limited to Amazon. I think they started when Amazon, Walmart, and many other opened their online stores to third-party sellers. I wonder whether they did it to compete with a growing eBay, which was evolving into new product retail sales and had started to eat into their businesses.

    If you have been paying attention these last few years, you probably observed how third-party sellers are "gaming" Amazon, Walmart, and other online retailers in many different ways. Losing control of merchandise quality is only one aspect that I have seen.

    Sellers are gaming the ratings in other ways too. Sellers bribe customers to edit or delete bad ratings on Amazon. DAMHIK.

    Sellers game how searches and sales operate. I have also observed sellers "shadowing" (my term) low cost products with high priced listings in various ways. At Walmart, we see listings for $2 bottle of mustard for in-store, pickup, or shipped, and that same bottle of mustard with only 3-day shipping for $36. If the $2 bottle goes out of stock at our local store, the $36 bottle wins the top of the search results and the third-party seller behind it may get a windfall.

    At Amazon, you will see "multi-pack" product sales at costs that far exceed the multiple of the regular price. For example, a refrigerator filter normally costs $10, but another seller will list the same product as a 2-pack for $60. People see the two-pack and think that it has the lower unit cost if they don't pay attention.

    Stuff like that.

    By the way, fake products are nothing new. Does anyone else remember those low cost film cameras made to look and feel like high quality SLRs? They were cheap plastic with a chunk of lead (or later: heavy steel) in a thin hidden bottom compartment on the camera to make it feel substantial. Naive kids thought they were buying or ordering a fine camera. It took only a minute or two before the excitement wore off as the buyer slowly realizes that they were swindled.

  • Why do someone buy these fishy drives?
    I did have a bag of usb sticks and most of them can be easily flashed to announce themselves as 2TB(or any capacity) usb stick.

  • @Shot2 said:

    @AuroraZero said:
    Want to see smaller? I have 16 Meg drives that still work.

    *** ENLARGE YOUR STICK ***

    Sorry, mate. Winter has come.

  • mustafamw3mustafamw3 Member, Patron Provider

    I bought 128gb flash drive for 12$

  • emgemg Veteran

    @FrozenAngels said:
    Why do someone buy these fishy drives?
    I did have a bag of usb sticks and most of them can be easily flashed to announce themselves as 2TB(or any capacity) usb stick.

    Because most people do not have the technical knowledge to recognize and understand that these are fakes, so they buy them.

    @mustafamw3 said:
    I bought 128gb flash drive for 12$

    I recently looked online and was surprised at how much the price of flash drives has dropped. Actually, the prices haven't changed much, but the storage you get for the price has doubled, then doubled again, then doubled again, ...

    128 Gbytes for $12. Wow.

  • rustelekomrustelekom Member, Patron Provider

    Any marketplace faces the same problem. Every day I see a lot of messages from victims about counterfeit, fake goods bought in the marketplace...

  • @mustafamw3 said:
    I bought 128gb flash drive for 12$

    normal price for "entry tier" usb sticks from Kingston.
    they are decent tough.

    Thanked by 1mustafamw3
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