Beware of Fake Products Online

Created by: Spencer Creasy

Reviewed by: Brielle Bitts

Shopping online for tech gadgets can be a great way to find something that would be much cheaper than going to a local store to buy something. Watch out when you are buying items online and remember if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Sellers on sies such as ebay.com might add official logos to packaging to their fake products, so whoever purchases the item believes it is genuine. SD cards and flash drives are commonly sold online that may look like they are a larger capacity (example 16gb), but they actually are smaller size (16gb) or the cards might not function at all. Sellers may purchase low capacity cards and make them look like they are a larger capacity when they plug the card into a computer or phone. The cards usually will corrupt files that the user adds to the card, making the card useless.

Packaging of products can look similar to the real products, but sometimes it can be hard to notice it. Packaging on fake products can look like it is faded or may have misspelled words. The picture below shows the fake package on the left and the original on the right.

Products such as batteries may have the incorrect size and they might hold less of a charge than what they are claiming to hold. Fake aftermarket products with fake logos also most likely don’t undergo proper safety testing and could be harmful, an example is below.

macbook-battery-about-to-explode

In 2013, a Samsung Galaxy S3 exploded in an 18-year-old girl’s pants pocket, giving her third-degree burns. An investigation revealed that the battery inside the Galaxy S3 wasn’t the original battery, but was a knock-off battery — a counterfeit battery that even had the Samsung logo on it. It’s not hard to find other reports of smartphone batteries exploding and injuring people or burning down buildings, and it’s usually not clear whether an aftermarket battery is to blame. – Howtogeek.com

Not all products online are fake and there are many aftermarket items that work correctly are safe, just remember to look out and watch what you purchase.

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