FBI Warns About Counterfeit Batteries (zdnet.com) 63
"Scammers are leveraging the vulnerabilities in the global supply chain, as well as the public's continuing need for new batteries, to sell a wide variety of counterfeits or unauthorized replicas online," warns America's FBI.
"Do not fall victim to online fraudsters or unauthorized dealers or manufacturers." Counterfeit batteries do not go through the same standardized testing as original equipment manufacturer batteries and can adversely impact the safety and health of the consumer....
Avoid aftermarket batteries when possible because they may be dangerous.... Consumers should avoid all third-party purchases of batteries, as they can appear to be legitimate OEM batteries but are likely counterfeit.... [B]atteries sold at deep discounts or at significantly lower-than-average prices are likely counterfeit.
The FBI warns you should always avoid batteries that:
"Do not fall victim to online fraudsters or unauthorized dealers or manufacturers." Counterfeit batteries do not go through the same standardized testing as original equipment manufacturer batteries and can adversely impact the safety and health of the consumer....
Avoid aftermarket batteries when possible because they may be dangerous.... Consumers should avoid all third-party purchases of batteries, as they can appear to be legitimate OEM batteries but are likely counterfeit.... [B]atteries sold at deep discounts or at significantly lower-than-average prices are likely counterfeit.
The FBI warns you should always avoid batteries that:
- are not properly packaged;
- have misprinted or misspelled labels;
- have labels that peel off; or
- do not have official manufacturer batch numbers.
"The FBI's warning is not specific to laptops or smartphones," notes ZDNet, "which makes sense given that batteries are now found in everything from cars, scooters, e-bikes, e-cigarettes and trains to drones and more."
Thanks to Slashdot reader joshuark for sharing the story.
Tell Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt anyone will get around to making sellers, like Amazon, check their third-party sellers, but it would be nice.
Re: Tell Amazon (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Tell Amazon (Score:4, Interesting)
> I doubt anyone will get around to making sellers, like Amazon, check their third-party sellers, but it would be nice.
It's way too hard to spot things like bogus USB drives [amazon.com] on the site. It must've taken me a whole minute to find this link.
Re:Tell Amazon (Score:4, Insightful)
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Do you use Amazon? If you get a bogus battery, return it. Amazon has one of the best return policies on the internet.
If enough people return their products, Amazon will take action.
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Do you use Amazon? If you get a bogus battery, return it. Amazon has one of the best return policies on the internet.
If enough people return their products, Amazon will take action.
Back when I had phones with replaceable batteries, I seem to recall the couple of questionable batteries worked fine when I got them, but lost their ability to hold a charge in about 25% of the time as the original battery. By then I don't think I could return the batteries.
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Were they weird brands, or were they listed as a known brand? If it was a known brand, do you think they were counterfeit, or just "rejects"/used?
They were listed as official Samsung batteries, but I suspect they were used. The product no longer shows up when I look at the purchase. I suspect Amazon did not make the actual selling company obvious at the time, or I was in my still learning to watch for 3rd parties selling "official" products phase.
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They were listed as official Samsung batteries, but I suspect they were used. The product no longer shows up when I look at the purchase. I suspect Amazon did not make the actual selling company obvious at the time, or I was in my still learning to watch for 3rd parties selling "official" products phase.
It's messed up that we have to put up with that kind of junk.
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I've been telling Amazon for over 4 years about a seller of counterfeit chips. They are still selling the same, defect ridden chips. Even EBay threw them off, though they keep morphing into a new company and come back.
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New batteries for old devices where? (Score:2)
What's a good place for customers in USA to buy replacement rechargeable batteries for discontinued electronic products, such as compact laptop computers or vintage handheld video game systems (DS/PSP)?
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Amazon doesn't even require mAh listings on button batteries.
How do you even compare two LEGIT batteries?
Oh yeah, and you type in 393, you get mostly compatible batteries, but if you filter, all sorts of like-looking crap shows up.
Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:5, Insightful)
But it's way easier to tell the masses to fix the problem for you (as if they haven't been trying this whole time). We bought 2 different supposedly OEM quality batteries for an older Lenovo laptop (X220). Lenovo didn't sell batteries at the time. They had less than half the expected capacity, which was already less than the extended battery we bought it with. Offered like 30-60 minutes of battery time vs. expected 4-6 hrs. Extended battery was another 2-3 hrs.
Also were less than half the cost of the original... ($30 vs. 80). Still, it felt like we got cheated. But there is nothing we can do about the lies in the ads.
Just realized...maybe Google and Microsoft and Amazon are actively fighting liability in advertising since they make so much money from bad ads.
Re:Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is identifying third party sellers and enforcing judgments against them. When you see a brand name like ZYXWVUT on eConmerceGiant-dot-com, you can bet that there isn't actually a company with that name that you can sue or prosecutors can prosecute. As soon as it looks like their misdeeds might catch up to them, they will disappear and become ABCDEFG instead.
Re:Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:5, Funny)
they will disappear and become ABCDEFG instead.
Thank goodness, looks like I’m in the clear. My new QWERTY 45 amp hour battery for my old Lenovo should get here soon, can’t believe it was only 30 bucks!
Re:Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:5, Insightful)
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For the sake of the environment, if nothing else, manufacturers should be required to sell replacement consumables like batteries at cost. Products should also make it reasonably easy for the owner to replace consumable parts.
Re: Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:2)
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I thought Ryobi was a Home Depot exclusive, why would anyone with a brain buy one anywhere else? (other than Direct Tools since they are the official factory outlet).
I don't believe that Ryobi is a Home Depot exclusive. For example, Walmart sells them.
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Re:Or sellers could be held liable for lying. (Score:4)
The problem with batteries is that lower quality ones may be QA rejects and can literally blow up on you or set your house on fire. Lithium fires are very hard to put out. Essentially you put sand on it and wait and put out everything else that catches fire. Smoke is also nicely toxic.
In my personal opinion, makers of counterfeit dangerous goods are the scum of the scum and need to be treated like it. They are literally putting a moderate financial gain over people's lives.
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I've bought two brand new original Dell-branded, Dell-made batteries for a ten year old Dell laptop, and neither one will take or hold a charge worth shit.
I'm starting to think there's a significant problem with "new old stock" OEM batteries being marketed as if they were made last week, but naturally being NN-years on the shelf, the batteries are kaput.
Branding... (Score:3)
Re: Branding... (Score:2)
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I'd venture a guess that it's the devices that are wrong. Some "reputable" brands like Nitecore make their batteries too long to fit in a lot of caddies, and a reasonable manufacturer might just decide to make the caddies longer. The length isn't as standard as it seems like it should be, though I suppose anything actually *shorter* than 65mm is definitely out of spec.
(I have owned devices that wouldn't fit a reputable 18650 cell because the caddy was too long.)
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18650 is the housing spec of the cell. (in this case with 0 added to the end)
if it not 18mm in diameter and 65mm in length it is not an 18650!!!
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... but not a drop to drink (Score:2)
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They're an important part of the marine ecosystem. Won't someone think of the poor electric eels that need to recharge?
Cell phone batteries (Score:4, Informative)
The FBI is only about 10-12 years too late...
Amazon has had mostly fake OEM cell phone batteries for years.
Camera batteries (Score:2)
Pretty sure Amazon also cashes in on the exorbitant prices charged for the must-have genuine OEM batteries sold by Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Olympus, etc.
I remember paying around $90 for replacement Nikon batteries almost 20 years ago.
eBay had similar for $15. They didn't last as long but still represented better value.
Blockchain can solve it! (Score:2)
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Well I can sell you a NFT of a Lenovo battery...
Amazon.com... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Probably because the actual danger is overstated. Every no-name cell phone power bank/portable USB charger uses a lithium battery from the lowest bidder, and you really don't hear about those things exploding left and right. Mostly, crap quality batteries just hold less capacity than their specified ratings (sometimes significantly so), and only last a limited number of charge cycles before the battery management circuit decides it's not safe to allow the battery to be charged and it becomes a brick.
It's
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The key word here is "counterfeit".
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funny, I've been buying non-OEM batteries for years for things like laptops, and they work just as well but a fifth the cost. Sometimes you can buy one with 10 or greater percent more capacity too.
Someone tell me the big laptop names aren't just buying the same crap and putting their sticker on it. Oh yes, it was put in magic inspection machine that checked a hundred things? yeah bullshit.
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Those precautions don't help on Amazon (Score:5, Insightful)
Several years ago, I replaced a ThinkPad battery. Having learned my lesson with too good to be true counterfeit ones, I opted to pay FULL PRICE on Amazon.com from a seller with an excellent reputation. The listing said genuine Lenovo OEM several times. The battery I got? It had the wrong label on it, with misspellings and was clearly counterfeit, just FULL PRICE. So I went through the trouble of paying full price from a reputable vendor and still got a fake. This even happens with stuff sold from Amazon.com.
What happened? To the best of my knowledge, what happens is Amazon.com has 500 of unit with SKU abc123. FlyByNightCounterFeiter.com pays for "fulfilled with Amazon" and submits their wares 100 units abc123. You place an order. You choose Amazon.com as your seller, for example, they will grab abc123 from any vendor, including FlyByNightCounterFeiter.com, presumably the abc123 from FlyByNightCounterFeiter.com was the cheapest to ship in the Prime Delivery Window.
There is literally nothing you can do to stop Amazon from selling you dangerously counterfeit goods.
In my case, the battery didn't even work at all, which I suppose is better than it catching fire 6 months down the road. Amazon quickly refunded my money and I bought from Lenovo's site instead. So I guess they just wasted my time and risked my device?
Never buy anything easy to counterfeit from Amazon.com. Apple Charger? Buy from Apple, Target, BestBuy, etc...DO NOT BUY FROM AMAZON. You're likely to get a counterfeit. Same with Apple cables or any accessory you don't register with Apple directly.
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If it's the same SKU, it goes into a single bin. It's easier for Amazon that way, instead of having different bins with the same product from different sources. Lenovo OEM sends 500 battery SKUs to Amazon, they go in the bin. Counterfeiter sends 1500 of the same SKU to Amazon, they go in the same bin. The pickers have mere seconds to grab one and keep moving or they are punished. They take whatever is at the top and put it into your order. It doesn't matter the reputation of the seller you buy from.
I
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Several years too late (Score:1)
I bought several replacement dumbphone (and one for an iPod with the monochrome LCD, remember those?) batteries back in the day. They were all crap which barely held a charge. These days, most electronics include a battery that usually outlasts the useful life of the device. I haven't actually had to buy a replacement battery for anything I own in recent memory.
Even my DJI Spark drone, which is quite long in the tooth at this point, still has batteries which are in usable condition.
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And no, I did not buy the replacement battery from someone pawning them through Amazon, I'm not t
whats new? (Score:2)
mostly filled with sand (Score:4, Interesting)
Why is the FBI telling us to do its job? (Score:3)
No thanks (Score:1)
Been like this for a long time (Score:3)
I know it's a serious story but... (Score:2)
Counterfeit all that are left (Score:2)
For my older series of battery-powered powertools, the sale of the Craftsman nameplate from Sears to StanleyBlack&Decker meant that the tool batteries for the 19.2V product line were discontinued as those tools and batteries had been made for Sears by TTI, a competitor to StanleyBlack&Decker.
The only source for batteries now are 'counterfeits' in this definition as TTI cannot make them anymore and official Craftsman tools are not forthcoming.
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And "Sears Parts Direct" (an official Sears outlet) is ... semi-real, but scammy. They list and sell parts that have not been made in decades, as if they have a warehouse full of new-old-stock. They take your money, but your order never arrives, and when you complain, they say oh, that part hasn't been made in years and is no longer available, you'll get a refund in about six months (seriously??), which never arrives. By then you've forgotten about it and they keep your money. There are rafts of complaints
Why the FBI? (Score:3)
I get that the FBI is supposed to investigate counterfeit goods. But most of these "off brand" replacement battery packs don't claim to be the originals, putting counterfeit brand name labels on them?
My experience has been, they've been ok for the price, too, when you realize you get what you pay for.
For example, I have an older Ryobi 40 volt string trimmer (bought in late 2013). The original battery pack for it has finally worn out to the point where I can only do weed trimming along the perimeter of my house itself and then it dies. Can't even get to the fence around my back yard on a single charge. So I bought some Chinese knock-off battery pack replacement. It only cost about $45 vs $179 for a real Ryobi replacement pack. I don't know if it isn't "as good" as the original. But I know I can do weed trimming of my whole yard, including edging along the curb and driveway, the fence line, etc. and it still has a charge left. If I was going to invest $150+ on a new battery for this old trimmer, I'd just buy a whole new trimmer with battery pack instead!
I don't think this FBI warning applies to much of what people are really buying as non OEM batteries and it shouldn;'t.