Hi,

I recently saw the previous version of this advert on eBay:

Link removed

And immediately thought it was a [problem] but was intrigued so I bought one for £6.99 including free postage.

It IS a [problem]. The eBay user edit. He's selling 8GB SD cards and USB sticks purporting them as 128/256GB ones. Basically, they've been 'hacked' and have had their "File Descriptor" identities changed to reflect a new size.

What happens when users get these items is they insert them into their PC/Camera/Phone and it reports as the expected size but when they try and save anything over the actual 8GB the pic/video/file, etc seems to save but is never retrievable. But most users don't get to the 8GB limit before leaving positive feedback!

Imagine if you'd used this card/stick to save your whole family holiday pics and videos thinking that 128GB was loads of space only to come home to find that only 8GB of your files were usable?

Now..... The question is what to do? This user obviously has my home address so I don't want to raise an eBay refund (and I want to keep the SD card as evidence) since it may have unpleasant consequences. He (and it is a He) is still selling the cards and has branched out to selling faked USB sticks.

Should I contact Trading Standards in Cheshire where the seller lives? Should I create a false eBay account and report him? I don't know.

I just know that this twonk is ripping people off and needs to have his 11-year eBay account killed and everyone who he's conned told what has happened.

Any advice would be good

Thanks people,

Swirly

Hi,

 

I recently saw the previous version of this advert on eBay:

 

Link removed

 

And immediately thought it was a **** but was intrigued so I bought one for £6.99 including free postage.

 

It IS a ****. The eBay user edit. He's selling 8GB SD cards and USB sticks purporting them as 128/256GB ones. Basically, they've been 'hacked' and have had their "File Descriptor" identities changed to reflect a new size.

 

What happens when users get these items is they insert them into their PC/Camera/Phone and it reports as the expected size but when they try and save anything over the actual 8GB the pic/video/file, etc seems to save but is never retrievable. But most users don't get to the 8GB limit before leaving positive feedback!

 

Imagine if you'd used this card/stick to save your whole family holiday pics and videos thinking that 128GB was loads of space only to come home to find that only 8GB of your files were usable?

 

Now..... The question is what to do? This user obviously has my home address so I don't want to raise an eBay refund (and I want to keep the SD card as evidence) since it may have unpleasant consequences. He (and it is a He) is still selling the cards and has branched out to selling faked USB sticks.

 

Should I contact Trading Standards in Cheshire where the seller lives? Should I create a false eBay account and report him? I don't know.

 

I just know that this twonk is ripping people off and needs to have his 11-year eBay account killed and everyone who he's conned told what has happened.

 

Any advice would be good

 

Thanks people,

 

Swirly

Have you tried telling him there is a problem?

Along the lines of "doesn't seem to save anything over 8Gb"?

He may be selling them with good intent - he may have been duped by the wholesaler / his supplier!

No I have not. I think that he knows what he's doing and is relying upon consumer ignorance. His adverts include the words, "These cards will vary in capacity and speed as they are factory formatted in bulk and so the capacity can vary from 8GB to 128GB"

This is his getout I think. But every card is 8GB.

This is a pretty old con really. There are tons of USB sticks on eBay advertised as high capacity, but they're just formatted in such a way that they appear high capacity on a computer, but as soon as you try to store above the actual capacity files just corrupt.

Anything that says the capacity will vary is pretty much guaranteed to be a con like this. Yes, a 32GB USB/SD storage device will not show as being 32GB when formatted, but it will show around 28-29GB. It certainly wont vary as widely as he's saying.

I think this sort of con was even on Watchdog or Rip Off Britain, or a similar program, a little while ago. They showed that some of the high capacity USB sticks actually just had 2GB micro-SD cards inside the casing.

If he's acting as a business seller then definitely report him to CAB/Trading Standards. If he's acting as a personal seller, then reporting to eBay will be the only way to go really. Sadly though it's likely to have little to no impact. The best you can hope for is his eBay account being suspended, but if he doesn't already have another one he'll just open up another most likely. He's not the first person on eBay to run this trick and he wont be the last, I can guarantee that.

I know. It's sad that I have so little effect. This individual edit is just one of many but I may help a little.

Your quote "Anything that says the capacity will vary is pretty much guaranteed to be a con like this" is superb.

I shall take it up with eBay in the first instance to see what they say. I suspect nothing. Then I'll think more imaginatively, lol.

I've removed the link and name of the seller from the posts as they could potentially cause problems for cag, especially as there's no proof that it's a con.

theres alot more scams running around about computing

ive heard a common one at the moment is to buy an external hdd/nas etc

take the 2TB hdd out

put a non working 20gb one in

then return it as non-working, get the money back then sell the expensive drive

very common now, along with alot of others