Another scam USB mass storage drive

[paolob]

Hi guys! I just want to advice you that I've found https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0FF4PDJJ2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title as a new scam.
It's declared 982 GB, but running validrive it just releaved to be 31 GB. Hope this can help you!

Report #1

test date and time	10/07/2025 at 16:19
declared drive size	1,054,518,280,192 (1.05TB)
validated drive size	31,177,064,448 (31.2GB)
highest valid region	31,177,064,448 (31.2GB)
hub or drive vendor	vendorco
hub or drive product	productcode
serial number	1339161295507539855

performance details

	read	write
samples	1,152​	1,152​
minimum	417​	1,366​
maximum	7,252​	4,125​
average	1,177​	1,688​
median	1,124​	1,643​
std dev	319​	184​
variance	0.271​	0.110​
total time	1,356,285​	1,944,679​
percent	41.09%​	58.91%​

time measurements in microseconds​

 

[peterblaise]

https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0FF4PDJJ2

 

[DanR]

Two tip-offs would be:
- Price: Legitimate 1 TB USB flash drives are now typically selling north of $50 on Amazon
- Size: Proper sizes are 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1024 GB (= 1 TB)

 

[paolob]

https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0FF4PDJJ2

View attachment 1673

Unfortunately in Amazon Italy is available and possible to buy

 

[peterblaise]

@paolob wrote

Chiavetta USB 982GB, Pen Drive USB 3.0 Velocità Veloce Pendrive Alta Capacità Penna USB con Portachiavi Compatibile con PC, Smart TV, Tablet : Amazon.it: Informatica

Compra Chiavetta USB 982GB, Pen Drive USB 3.0 Velocità Veloce Pendrive Alta Capacità Penna USB con Portachiavi Compatibile con PC, Smart TV, Tablet. SPEDIZIONE GRATUITA su ordini idonei

www.amazon.it

​

Unfortunately in Amazon Italy is available and possible to buy​

Please share a local screen grab.

When I proxy into Italy, it shows as unavailable.

Same in the US - unavailable.

 

[peterblaise]

@DanR wrote: Two tip-offs would be: - Price: Legitimate 1 TB USB
flash drives are now typically selling north of $50 on Amazon - Size:
Proper sizes are 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1024
GB (= 1 TB)​

The USB drive being labeled [ 928GB ] does seem 'weird', but my SSD
drives are whatever the firmware sets aside for drive and spares, here
are a handful of mine as measured in Windows Drive Manager:

223.56GB​

223.57GB​

476.92GB​

476.94GB​

953.85GB​

1863GB​

1863.02GB​

1907.73GB​

... and so on, all 'real'

It's really quite funny.

The only FAKE one I've got is labeled [ 400GB ] - not a 'power of 2'
drive size.

Amazon categories also have non-powers-of-2 nomenclature for USB
SSD drives:

119 GB & Under
120 to 239 GB
240 to 479 GB
480 to 959 GB
960 to 999 GB​

1 to 1.9 TB​

2 TB & up​

Those are not powers of 2.

Google says there are 928GB USB drives on Amazon, but other than
the link in this thread, I can't easily find any others.

"The size numbers are funny" does not mean what it used to mean.

Can anyone find other 'weird' USB or SSD drive sizes marked on the
drive itself?

 

[paolob]

@paolob wrote

Chiavetta USB 982GB, Pen Drive USB 3.0 Velocità Veloce Pendrive Alta Capacità Penna USB con Portachiavi Compatibile con PC, Smart TV, Tablet : Amazon.it: Informatica

Compra Chiavetta USB 982GB, Pen Drive USB 3.0 Velocità Veloce Pendrive Alta Capacità Penna USB con Portachiavi Compatibile con PC, Smart TV, Tablet. SPEDIZIONE GRATUITA su ordini idonei

www.amazon.it

​

Unfortunately in Amazon Italy is available and possible to buy​

Please share a local screen grab.

When I proxy into Italy, it shows as unavailable.

Same in the US - unavailable.

 

[peterblaise]

GREAT information - Amazon has filtering that even if I proxy into Italy,
I do not get the same presentation as someone there, perhaps with a
previously-authorized Amazon account.

This is a clue that Amazon tailors their presentation to maximize sales
and prevent scrutiny from anyone not directly involved, such as those
of us looking over your shoulder trying to help advise what's good
and what's BAD!

In other words, if something is banned or discovered faulty in one area,
Amazon will continue to sell that same product elsewhere, where such
crap has not yet been discovered as crap.

So, why are we using Amazon, especially considering their catering to
any anti-consumer policy in any government anywhere?

I am highly motivates to spend my money locally, where I can
arm-wrestle with real people directly across the sales counter.

Thanks.

 

[miquelfire]

982 is a weird number, but normally, we have the GB(1000) vs GiB(1024) thing going on with drives. The OS will actually report the GiB size of a drive, but the drive will report the GB size. The only explanation I have for the 982 size is maybe they're including the over-provision size as well. If so, there are no spare sectors for when they wear out.