Tuesday 19 June 2012

Westen Digital warns of fake hard drives on sale in the UK

Buyers beware.  This text is taken from the PCR news site. It was written by Matt Grainger and was published on 11 June 2012.

UK retailers need to be on the lookout for ‘too good to be true’ deals involving Western Digital hard drives.

The vendor has acknowledged the presence of fake internal and external hard drives in the UK channel and talking to PCR, one WD executive revealed that the vendor had first become aware of the issue when some faulty devices were returned. When the serial numbers were checked, they were found to have been fake and therefore ineligible for warranty – leaving the retailers out of pocket.
Apparently, the process of identifying where the devices were being brought in was a relatively simple process but due to ongoing legal investigations, we are unable to identify the companies involved.

“WD is aware of the situation that some faked drives were discovered in the English distribution channel; we are taking this very seriously and are currently carrying out an investigation. All parties involved have co-operated fully with WD’s investigation of this matter – the numbers we have seen or heard are extremely small in proportion to many millions of drives we ship quarterly,” said Western Digital’s EMEA head of public relations, Daniel Mauerhofer.

“Specific to this case, internal hard drives are at issue, and they were easily determined to be fake due to inaccuracies on the drive labels. We don’t believe this is a completely new problem. WD is making a concerted effort, with the help of law enforcement agencies, to protect consumers from WD hard drive counterfeit activity. The flooding in Thailand last Autumn was not a starting point, and we can’t say for certain whether or not it has increased those illegal activities. WD is recommending to buy through authorised distribution channels.”