Walmart Sells Fake 30TB Hard Drive That’s Actually Two Small SD Cards

The identical product was purchased from AliExpress and disassembled by a cybersecurity researcher. Motherboard contacted Walmart, who then removed the hard disc.

Up until Monday, Walmart customers could get an amazing offer on a sizable solid state hard drive (SSD) for just $17.99. Depending on their size, comparable drives frequently sell for much more. A TB of SSD storage typically costs between $50 and $100.

Here is the Walmart advertisement:

Cybersecurity researcher Ray recognised the offer as being too good to be true after seeing a comparable product on the online retailer AliExpress. He purchased the disc despite his suspicions that it was a hoax and disassembled it to learn more. Sure enough, he discovered what appeared to be a distinct object dressed as a big SSD. Two little memory cards were inside, but the device had been designed to appear to have 30TB of storage when connected to a computer.

The cybersecurity researcher who goes by the name Ray announced his results last week. “I knew going in it would be a scam but I thought we might utilise it as an educational opportunity,” he told Motherboard in an online chat. “My son and I collaborated on it.”

Do you know of any further Walmart online scam products? Please get in touch with us. You can reach Joseph Cox securely on Signal at +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr st joseph cox, or by email at [email protected] using a non-work phone or computer.

Walmart withdrew the product from its virtual shelves on Monday after Motherboard contacted the firm on Friday regarding the placement on its own website.

Ray’s discovery draws attention to something that many customers may not be aware of: Walmart, like Amazon, operates an online marketplace that sells a wide variety of goods from independent sellers in addition to those that can be found on Walmart’s physical shelves. As a result, Walmart is exposed to reputation, quality, and content moderation issues.

In an email to Motherboard, Robyn Babbitt, Walmart’s director of corporate communications, said, “Thanks for contacting out and bringing this to our attention. “Walmart has a strong trust and safety programme that works aggressively to safeguard our consumers and help ensure that goods are genuine. This item has been taken down from our site after evaluation.

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When Ray opened the product’s case with a razor blade, he discovered a board with two glued-down SD cards instead of an SSD. However, when connected to a Windows PC, the device claimed to discover two 15TB discs. That is, to put it mildly, impossible because, despite their ability to store terabytes of data, SD cards are often significantly more expensive than this drive. Ray thinks that the firmware was altered by the con artists, causing the gadget to falsely report its storage capacity.

As Ray tweeted his discoveries, SM4Tech discovered that Walmart was selling the drive. Then, Motherboard approached Walmart for a response.

According to reviews posted on the harddrive on Walmart’s website, Ray wasn’t the only person who thought it was suspect.

One review, written by a person going by the name of William, is titled “DO NOT BUY THIS—it is a fraud.” “Walmart ought to learn better than to market items like these. For $28, I thought I was getting an 8 terabyte SSD disc, but this piece of junk is useless in every aspect. Walmart should be ashamed of itself for selling this fraud of a product.

Don’t purchase it, says one more review. The product is not what they are claiming it to be,

Other reviews have given the product a 5-star rating, although it’s unclear if it represents genuine customer satisfaction or just the producers passing off their product as something else.