Cutting corners: The rising prices of RAM and storage drives due to component shortages have created an ideal environment for scammers to entice unsuspecting customers with deals that are too good to be true. As AI data center construction continues to divert DRAM and NAND production capacity, fake products are becoming harder to spot, with some even able to fool benchmark tools.
Counterfeit SSDs usually look real to the untrained eye until their performance or capacity falls far short of the device's specs. However, Japanese outlet Akiba PC Hotline recently discovered a specimen that matches the genuine article in speed and storage.
Last month, a fake Samsung 980 Pro SSD emerged that fooled Windows File Manager, Disk Management, and CrystalDiskInfo, but only transferred files at around 20 MB/s compared to the real model's 6,900 MB/s write speed. However, the fraudulent 1TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD that Akiba tested reported read and write speeds of 7,255 and 6,090 MB/s, respectively – very close to the authentic model's 7,453 and 6,953 MB/s in CrystalDiskInfo's benchmark. Furthermore, H2testw also verified that the fake drive's capacity matches the real thing.
What gave the ruse away was a run through FastCopy, another tool that benchmarks transfer speeds. Here, the fake SSD took 25 minutes to move a nearly 400GB file, reaching only 261 MB/s, while the authentic 990 Pro managed it in three and a half minutes at 1,861 MB/s.
The likely reason behind the fake model's surprising performance is also one of the telltale signs of forgery when compared to a real 990 Pro – it uses a Maxio MAP1602 SSD controller instead of Samsung's proprietary controller. The "MAP1602" marking appears along the side of the drive near the gold fingers. Another giveaway is that the counterfeit model is DRAMless, while authentic 990 Pros come equipped with DDR4 SDRAM cache.
The packaging also displays minor mistakes that only become clear when customers compare it to a real Samsung box. The scam even includes an authentic-looking manual, but minor differences in the artwork emerge under close inspection.
Lastly, although authentication software such as CrystalDiskInfo and Samsung Magician does not immediately flag the drive as counterfeit, they do indicate that something is amiss. CrystalDiskInfo reports an odd serial number, "8888888888," while Samsung's app detects a "Non-Samsung" 990 Pro. Furthermore, Samsung Magician's diagnostic scan fails when attempted on the imitation drive.
The incident proves that the market has reached the point where buyers must run components purchased from sources other than the original manufacturer through a battery of performance benchmarks and authentication checks. Close examination compared with high-resolution images from manufacturer websites is also recommended.