Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Amazon Sells Fake Products That Can Harm Your Computer

There are multiple products being sold through Amazon described as a “FireWire Female to USB Male adapter”, or “USB 2.0 to FireWire adapter”, etc.

DO NOT BUY THESE THINGS!

FireWire and USB are entirely different buses with entirely different data and electrical formats. You cannot just make a plug to push one into the other. An item like this can damage the FireWire and USB electronics on equipment interconnected by these so-called adapters! And, looking at the reviews posted by the unfortunate scammed customers, this has already happened to people!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U7DJ3XU/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XYG4KA/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VRN2OTY/ <— this one is actually fulfilled by Amazon.

...and more...

Actual customer reviews indicate (in the tens to hundreds of reports) that these don’t work. Of course they don’t. They can’t possibly work. Some customers are informed enough to realize these are garbage items. The positive reviews are a mix of people who blame themselves or their devices for the product’s failure (because we have a culture that makes non-tech people feel stupid and ignorant, which is how the computer industry insulates itself from accountability), and obvious fake reviews. By the way: Amazon has no system to deal with fake reviews. “Verified customer” can be bypassed by sending gift codes to people in the cottage industry of review sellers (this exists).

Yes, Amazon have been informed. They have a track record in regard to counterfeit products which is... unimpressive. No doubt, due to the fact that you can indeed conduct electricity between the two ends of this “adapter”, they will conclude it is not “fake”. Bravo, Chinese scammers.

Are you irritated by my “click bait” headline? It’s really not clickbait. Those are fake products. Yeah, the Amazon “marketplace” sellers are selling and fulfilling many of these items (not all; see above), but what’s the difference to consumers? When you go to Amazon.com (NOT eBay.com) to buy something, and you’re not a savvy & experienced web denizen, and you buy scam and/or counterfeit products, the subtle difference in seller details is meaningless to you.

It’s not like we need more examples of why laissez-faire capitalism is horrible, but here you go; yet another one. We need regulation. More importantly: We need regulation to actually be fucking enforced. If you’re one of those “tax is theft” and “regulation is bad” libertarians, you really need to grow up. Meet reality; it’s a lot different from your theories.

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