You've probably seen them before: suspiciously cheap Memory Sticks on eBay that are "too good to be true." Some of you may have even purchased one, only to find out that they simply don't work. It looks like a bootlegger was recently arrested: a Kyoto University student was caught with about twenty fake Memory Sticks in his home. He sold the Memory Sticks throughout Japan and overseas, and is believed to have sold at least 400 fraudulent sticks.
The bootlegger now faces fines as high as 2.5 million yen (about $25,000 US).
[Via PSP3D]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-23-2006 @ 7:30PM
Deth said...
I am glad he was busted!
Off topic- Why doesn't the Japanese government take some money out of circulation to increase its value? It must be annoying to have to pay 4000 yen for a fast food value meal.
"lets see- 3670...3680....3690....3700- YES! only 300 more to go! 3710...3720..."
Cheers!
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10-23-2006 @ 7:33PM
alienclay said...
amen to that and about time. i almost fell for it once, but even a close look at the pictures on the ebay listing could show it was fake. i was pissed it had gone on for so long but now i hope sony and the japanese government give him the stick,... the phat one
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10-23-2006 @ 8:12PM
Dave said...
"Why doesn't the Japanese government take some money out of circulation to increase its value?"
It's not like they have have 1, 5, 10, and 20 Yen bills. In fact, they have 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10000 bills and the most common coins are 50, 100, and 500. They simply use a system that has no "cents." That is, you'll never see a fraction of a Yen.
On Topic - Thankfully this guy was caught.I'm interested in knowing how he made such good looking replicas, though.
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10-23-2006 @ 8:57PM
Keil Joy said...
that's good for the lil' bastard!
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10-23-2006 @ 9:34PM
B1gC72 said...
im actually in a spat with sumtin like this now. i ordered a 4GB memory stick off of eBay for $85 and everything looked legit, everything was advertised as Sony branded (wouldnt have bought it if it wasnt). and when it got here everything was Sony branded.....except the memory stick which was not branded at all. it would have been that bad if it still worked but the damn thing isnt even readable in my PSP or computer. I AM PISSED. i sent it back and asked for my money back. now im just kinda waiting to see what happens.
i was even more upset when i found a legit $85 4GB memorystick on cheapassgamer.com. hopefully this will all work out and ill be more careful next time.
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10-23-2006 @ 10:38PM
B1gC72 said...
this is great news. its about time somebody starts crackin down on these guys. its damn near impossible to find a real deal on a memory on eBay anymore because you have to sift through all the bs deals like these. i cant believe that eBay, or any other auction site for that matter, cant do nething about this themselves. i mean, from the pics, they are obviously fake knockoffs. the police should just go raid all the warehouses that house these companies cause the address are right there. its not like they're hard to find.
im actually in a spat with sumtin like this now. i ordered a 4GB memory stick off of eBay for $85 and everything looked legit, everything was advertised as Sony branded (wouldnt have bought it if it wasnt). and when it got here everything was Sony branded.....except the memory stick which was not branded at all. it would have been that bad if it still worked but the damn thing isnt even readable in my PSP or computer. I AM PISSED. i sent it back and asked for my money back. now im just kinda waiting to see what happens.
i was even more upset when i found a legit $85 4GB memorystick on cheapassgamer.com. hopefully this will all work out and ill be more careful next time.
Reply
10-23-2006 @ 10:47PM
Kevin said...
B1gc72, that's how they get you.
They list the shipping fee extremely high and the listing price really low. So, when you return the item the shipping isn't covered. That's how they get their money.
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10-24-2006 @ 8:01AM
Alien said...
Finally , this pirates are so anoying , I never buy memori stycks from ebay ( nothing else either actually ) .
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10-24-2006 @ 5:30PM
Jerome said...
I got fouled on ebay for a 2Go stick! It did screw up my camera! I send a email to the seller and 1hours later I got my money back! 60$ I think
B*ITCH!
ps- my camera is fine
I just receive a 4go from Fry's
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10-24-2006 @ 9:36PM
StMadnes said...
Even ebay doesn't recommend that people purchase memory sticks from their site due to all of the reported complaints they've received from people getting robbed.
If you'll notice, there's some links to 'ebay buying guides' on the home page of the ebay site. When you read the guide, you'll see that they strongly discrourage people from purchasing memory cards on from them. Many people reported getting memory sticks that didn't have the amount of memory advertised. While other cases involved people getting memory sticks that didn't even work at all! What a bummer for the poor guy/gal who waited paitiently for their memory card to come in the mail- only to find out that some con artist scum bag ripped them off. my sentiments go out to all of you who've gotten caught out there by these thieves. I'd just love to beat the stuffin out of one of those jerks!
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