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Some offers are so tempting that they should be ignored
Photo: Thorsten Huebner
A smartphone with a ten-core processor, 16 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and 512 GB of flash storage for 80 euros?
Wow what an offer!
Doubts that this is far too good to be true are overwhelmed by the bargain hunt and the many positive reviews on Wish.com - and the order button is pressed.
After all, there is something about "30 days return & refund" on the website, and the dealer sends from Germany.
In fact, the package arrives a few days later;
and there is really an Android smartphone in it.
The system settings menu shows the promised specifications, but something is wrong: Why is this thing so incredibly slow despite the high-end technology, even though even analysis apps like AIDA64 display the smartphone's inner workings as promised before the purchase?
An Android app developed by the "c't" editorial team reveals the truth: The phone has completely outdated technology: a lame dual-core processor, a mere 512 MB RAM, 8 GB storage.
Instead of Android 11, the seven-year-old version 4.4.2 is installed - now full of security gaps.
At the beginning of the research we suspected that we would come across fake phones - but the extent of the fakes surprised us.
After we ordered eleven smartphones from different online shops and all eleven turned out to be fake phones, it becomes clear: this is a real problem;
especially with the US platform Wish.com and the Chinese AliExpress.
After examining all the phones, we were sure that we could identify fake phones before buying them, because the scam is always the same: maximum high-end (16 GB RAM, 512 GB storage, 5G support) for barely over or even under 100 euros.
91 out of 100 are fakes
When we searched for the term »smartphone« on Wish and AliExpress shortly before the editorial deadline and looked at the first 100 search results, 91 of these were obviously fakes on Wish.com.
At AliExpress, we found 64 and 17 fakes in two tests with different browsers.
If you limit the price to less than 100 euros, the fake rate even increases.
We also found fakes on Amazon and eBay, but these are isolated cases;
the likelihood of accidentally coming across counterfeit smartphones there is low.
An interview explains why so many fake dealers seem to be able to go about their mischief on the platforms unmolested.
During our test purchases, we noticed three categories of fake phones: The most bold are the "real" counterfeits, i.e. devices that are sold with the brand name, for example, as "Samsung Galaxy S21" and that even imitate packaging and accessories. The middle audacity level is represented by the devices that do not mention the manufacturer's name, but name the product, for example, "S21" and at least copy the back of the device more or less true to the original - for example the camera module that is characteristic of many smartphones.
Smartphones with fantasy names fall into a third category.
For example the “RRunzfon Android cell phone for adults” that we found on Amazon.
All three categories advertise with high-end components such as a ten-core processor and 16 GB of RAM;
and the telephone software is always modified in such a way that the system settings menu shows the advertised specs incorrectly.
By far the most common thing we came across was the middle audacity level, i.e. case designs and names based on branded smartphones, but without the use of logos and brand names protected by trademark law.
The reason for this is obvious: devices of this type are not recognized by customs;
Because the forgery is only apparent when you compare the advertised specifications with the actually available ones - and customs cannot know under what conditions the device was sold.
Although we only found a few counterfeits of the first category during our research, German customs withdrew over 60,000 such complete counterfeits from circulation in 2020.
If you consider that customs only act at the request of a rights holder, the real number of counterfeit devices is likely to be significantly higher.
Who is behind it?
The eleven fake phones we tested were very similar in some respects. For example, all devices came with an identical USB power supply unit - most of them had the type designation »YKX-010« on them. Most of the devices did not have a CE mark, and for good reason: Several of the power supplies flew around our ears with a bang when we simulated 1-kilovolt voltage peaks on the power line. According to the law, all devices sold in Germany must withstand such a "1 kV burst surge test".
In addition, five of the smartphones were in the same white box with an Android robot and the label »Smartphone«. Nevertheless, we do not have the impression that there is a single manufacturer behind the fake phones who, for example, always puts the same cheap mainboard in different housings. There were too many differences in the hardware for that: Sometimes 512 MB RAM was built in, sometimes 1 GB and sometimes even 2 GB. What is possible: That these are unsold stocks of antique smartphones that are tinkered into housings by smaller fraudulent companies that are similar to current smartphones.
Many of the details are downright funny: On one device, the German settings menu says “16 GByte ram” - “Ram” is the English word for a male sheep. On a device, there is “BRAND” on the housing, the English term for “brand” - someone has probably forgotten something. Also nice: With a smartphone there was a printed manual in the box that has absolutely nothing to do with the installed software, but explains the Sokoban game. The non-working fingerprint sensors of many devices are less charming: if you activate the sensor, it releases the device whenever you press the display - you can also tap a banana on the screen.
Many orders came with 128 GB or 256 GB MicroSD cards as a "free gift" in the box - the fake dealers have consistently stayed here, because all of them were fake cards, the memory of which was actually much smaller than the print promised.
With AliExpress it is possible to explicitly only display offers whose dealers ship from Germany (»Ship from: Germany«).
We did not find any fakes here in our samples - but unfortunately also few real bargains.
You can't filter at Wish, but we were offered shipping from Germany for some of the fake offers.
This creates more trust at first - after all, German case law applies here.
However, this should be treated with caution: We received two of our “German” Wish deliveries from the sender “Online Seller, Ludwig-Erhard-Str.
555 in 28197 Bremen ".
This house number does not exist.
However, the warehouse service provider Winit resides in Ludwig-Erhard-Str.
2 - a company that describes itself as follows: "We store and pick goods for sellers who are active on eBay or Amazon, for example." In addition, the company replies to the frequently asked questions on the website: "Can I get the package." just send it back directly to Winit? "with:" Basically not.
Always contact your seller first about how to proceed with a return. «
What to do?
If you have fallen for a fake phone, you can complain to AliExpress or Wish. Both platforms do not send any goods themselves, but only offer the sales platform. Now one could think that the platforms would act immediately in the event of fraud, block the dealer, apologize and return the purchase price. But it's not that simple.
With AliExpress, for example, you first have to confront the merchant before the platform intervenes. In our case, the dealer denied everything: You could see in the settings menu that everything was true. When we responded with screenshots from our analysis tool, he was really bold: Our information was wrong, the software was not "officially certified by Android" and in general it was totally dangerous to use third-party apps, as they can ultimately steal personal data. When we replied that we were one hundred percent sure that our information was correct, the question came up: “If you send the device back, you will have to pay the expensive freight costs to China. Are you ready to pay? "
Only the opening of an official dispute with AliExpress - which, by the way, only worked in the AliExpress smartphone app for our test order, not in the PC browser - led to a satisfactory result. The process is somewhat curious: the injured party makes a suggestion of how much money he wants back. Of course we wanted the full purchase price back, after all we were cheated. The complainant then describes the case and uploads photos of evidence or screenshots.
The dealer then has five days to respond and make a counter offer. Only when buyers and retailers disagree does AliExpress intervene. Three days after the five-day period had expired, we received the “judge's verdict”: Our accusation was correct in both points (product counterfeit and “properties not as described”), we were reimbursed the entire purchase price without us having to use the fake phone have to send back. The retailer was not blocked, however, and at the time of going to press, his “Global mobile online store” was still selling counterfeits.
At Wish we complained directly - without going through the sender.
A service employee who also wanted to see evidence photos answered us in the chat.
When we sent it, we were offered a solution within 48 hours.
However, that did not come, instead only generic text modules that we were negotiating with the dealer.
Ten days after the initial contact and four times the drilling process plus the information that this was a fraud, Wish offered us a 50 percent refund.
It was only when we vehemently refused that we got the full amount back.
The dealer site was also not blocked at the time of going to press.
What are the platforms saying?
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Bold: This retailer warns us about our self-developed app
Photo: c't
As a final step, we confronted the press offices of AliExpress and Wish with the problem. The reaction here was much more direct than on the platforms themselves: At Wish, the press officer immediately asked us for links to counterfeit products. Since it is very easy to recognize fake phones on Wish, we put the test to the test and sent ten links to obvious fake phones - but not the ones we had ordered, because we already knew they were Fakes.
The answer was: “Thank you for drawing our attention to these products, we have deleted them all.” There was also the statement “Wish has a zero tolerance rule for counterfeit product offers or infringements of intellectual property rights.
Product entries that violate our rules will be removed immediately [...] «.
Wish also made us aware of their “Brand Partner Program” with “over 2000 members”, which keeps Wish.com “forgery-free”.
This is, of course, sheer mockery: “Forgery-free” is very little at Wish.com, at least in the smartphone category.
The same thing happened at AliExpress after our request: The offers we mentioned were deleted, the shops remained active.
How can you recognize fakes?
Cell phone bargain hunters can only be advised to take a close look at Wish.com and AliExpress. AliExpress is definitely a good place to buy cheap smartphones. We were able to get the Xiaomi Redmi 10 there for 155 euros (including shipping costs) at the beginning of September. It wasn't officially available in Europe until weeks later - and then significantly more expensive.
Probably the best indicators for fakes are the RAM and flash memory sizes.
A smartphone with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of flash memory currently costs at least 350 euros, such as the Realme X3 Super Zoom.
If a device with 16 and 512 GB is offered for less than 150 euros, one can assume a fake.
"Fortunately", in our experience, the fake dealers are never modest, but basically boast with the highest possible hardware specs.
We haven't come across middle-class fakes.
Another indicator is the product names and photos.
Often they are rather unrealistic-looking photomontages with extremely thin screen bezels.
In addition, many names allude to actually existing luxury smartphones ("S21" or "P40 Pro").
With manufacturer names such as "Hauwei" or "Sumsang" you should look out of the way immediately anyway.