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The CompactFlash cards above look nearly identical. But, like twins on a soap opera, one of them is really, really bad. We know because we tested them both-and it didn't take much to discover which was the evil twin.
Of course, we went out looking for a counterfeit memory card. First stop: eBay. We bought one from an online vendor called Sharpdisk, based in Shanghai, China, which experts consider one of the world's counterfeiting capitals. Although Sharpdisk's eBay customer feedback rating was 99.2 percent positive, several buyers had posted comments warning that the company sold fake SanDisk memory cards.
The price should've been warning enough-about $15 for a SanDisk Extreme IV 2GB CF card (we paid nearly $26 with shipping), compared with $60 at retailers we trust.
The card arrived in a package that looked like the real thing, until we spotted all the typos in the fine print. We also had help from eBay, where a guide to fake SanDisk CF cards displayed a counterfeit's serial number that matched the one we'd bought.
The real proof came when we popped our card into a SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash FireWire reader, plugged into one of our office computers, to see how it would perform in real-life circumstances. It took 2 minutes to transfer a 600MB folder containing 18 big image files from the computer, a rate of 5MB/sec.
Transferring the same folder to a genuine card, which was sent to us directly by SanDisk, was six times faster-it took just 20 seconds, a rate of 30MB/sec. That's a huge difference.
(Note that SanDisk advertises the read/write speed of this card as 40MB/sec. The difference can be attributed to the speed of the FireWire cable we used, not to the card itself.)
So which card is the imposter? You can tell by the squared-off metal plate behind the label: The counterfeit is the card on the left.
Have You Been Had?
Manufacturers of photo products that have been counterfeited typically won't cover them under the standard warranty you thought you were getting. Does this mean you're out of luck? Not necessarily. The web abounds in stories of ripped-off consumers who, after raising hell with the company whose product they thought they'd bought, got at least a partial refund.
But the issue that immediately comes to mind for SanDisk spokesman Mike Langberg: "Did the buyer intentionally buy a fake, or were they truly fooled?"
If you bought what you thought was legitimate photo gear and then become suspicious, you can at least find out if it's counterfeit-the first step in helping to fight the global surge in photo flimflams. Here's how:
Ink cartridges. The Imaging Supplies Coalition, which includes Brother, Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Oki, Toshiba, and Xerox, created a program it calls WIDCIO: When In Doubt Check It Out. Send your questionable cartridges to the ISC, and the organization will send them to its member companies to determine whether they're counterfeit, infringe on a patent, have been used, or were remanufactured and sold as new. Then the ISC asks you to name the seller (confidentially) so the company can give chase. Twenty percent of the cartridges the ISC receives turn out to be fakes of some kind, which means most bad cartridges should be covered by warranty. For more info, call the ISC at 941-961-7897 or go to its website at www.isc-inc.org.
Memory cards. eBay lists feedback from buyers about its sellers, but it's not hard for the unscrupulous to jack up positive reviews. Cautionary guide pages on eBay claim that 95 percent of all 1–8GB memory cards sold on the site are counterfeit, or "have fake capacities." Pictures of fakes and genuine SanDisk cards, as well as phone numbers for technical help for other manufacturers' cards, can be found through a search on reviews.ebay.com.
Batteries. Nine camera makers-Canon, Casio, Konica Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Sanyo, and Sony-have issued battery safety warnings. Their trade group, the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), has a website with detailed information on counterfeits and links to all the safety notices: www.cipa.jp/battery.
Canon's safety notice on its website warns all users of its digital cameras and camcorders that counterfeit lithium ion rechargeable batteries, are being sold on internet auction sites. It says the company is not liable for "any malfunctions, damages, or injuries" caused by counterfeits, and shows pictures of genuine and fake batteries, including one that burned up when charged. Look for the notice at www.usa.canon.com/consumer: Click on Support, then choose Digital Cameras from the drop-down product menu. Click on the button labeled with a caution sign, and you'll find a link to the alert in the pop-up window.
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