[Eric Coffey]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up regarding micro SD (SDHC) memory cards out there. With the rise in popularity/demand for smart-phones and other mobile devices, these little memory cards have become an even larger target for counterfeiting that before. Apparantly they are one of the hottest "consumer electronics" items to be counterfeited now, and "they" say that up to 80% of them floating around on the market are fakes. Even some very reputable retailers have been caught-out by buying (and re-selling) counterfeit cards.

I recently picked up a Sandisk Micro-SDHC Ultra 32gb card for a new phone that turned out to be counterfeit. It crapped out on me within 3 weeks. I bought it from Amazon directly (not an Amazon re-seller) and the packaging, printing, etc. are dead-nuts on to the real deal. After a bit of research, the only "tell" I could find was the absence of the serial number on the back of the card itself. On the real thing, it is printed in dark gray ink on the card's black background, so it's hard to see even on the real ones (especially considering the tiny size of these micro cards).

I will give a shout-out to Amazon though. I called them to inform them of the situation expecting a long, drawn-out process of RMA, return, etc. However, they just refunded me on the spot, no need to send them anything back.