In big part because the vast majority of electronics corporations in the west produce all their products in China, that country has become an electronics giant, not only manufacturing the vast majority of electronics products in the world, but also producing and selling their own (often, although not always, using technology copied from these western corporations.)
There are many completely legit corporations in China, which produce good and oftentimes quite high-quality legit products and innovations of their own, with no shady business nor strings attached (well, no more than any other such corporation in the world), including things like cellphones, graphics cards and all other sorts of computer hardware. Their prices and the quality of their products tend to be quite competitive.
I myself have a KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, which is manufactured by a company based in Hong Kong (Galaxy Microsystems Ltd), which has been manufacturing such cards for something like a decade, and it's a completely legit and quite affordable product, with good reviews.
However, China is also infamous for the sheer amount of scammers, masquerading as legit corporations, selling faked or otherwise illegitimate products. Apparently law enforcement in that country is quite lax on this front (and rumors are that in fact the Chinese government itself may be involved in many such shady businesses.)
I have advised earlier against purchasing graphics cards and USB sticks from eBay, especially if the price seems too good to be true. These Chinese fraudulent companies love to sell on eBay because it's such an easy, affordable and wide-reaching platform to sell fake products. (eBay has a consumer protection policy and mechanism in place, but the thing about these fake products is that they sometimes fool the buyer successfully enough that they don't realize having been scammed before it's too late.)
Of course eBay is not the only place where they sell their products. There are myriads of online services out there that act as kind of intermediaries between consumers and a big bunch of sellers, and their standards of quality may vary a lot. Sometimes the scammers will even sell directly, rather than through such services.
Cellphones are one product that I have not mentioned before, and which you should also be careful about. If some obscure-brand Android smartphone seems too cheap, it might be worth considering whether it's genuine or some type of scam. Doing a bit of online research is always warranted. Although that might not always help, if the product is so new that nobody has had time to test and review it.
Sometimes such smartphones may be relatively "legit" in that they work mostly as advertised, and may even serve all the functions a smartphone should. However, there have been cases where such a no-brand Android phone has turned out to be a scam in another way: It may come pre-installed with all kinds of malware, adware, backdoors and so on, and/or it may start surreptitiously downloading and installing such software. The scammers may use this for all kinds of illegitimate purposes, such as stealing your information, using your bandwidth at your cost, or using your phone for other shady activities. There have been documented cases.
It may sometimes be tempting to purchase a cheap product. However, you have to consider that you may be scammed (you don't get what you thought you were promised) or taken advantage of (such as getting bundled malware). Always do a bit of research, and be wary of products that seem to be from unknown or no-name companies, especially if the product is being sold online via services with unknown or questionable reputation. (If the product is being sold on reputable stores, there's a good chance it's legit.) Always search for online reviews (and more than one; never settle for the first one you find.)
There are many completely legit corporations in China, which produce good and oftentimes quite high-quality legit products and innovations of their own, with no shady business nor strings attached (well, no more than any other such corporation in the world), including things like cellphones, graphics cards and all other sorts of computer hardware. Their prices and the quality of their products tend to be quite competitive.
I myself have a KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card, which is manufactured by a company based in Hong Kong (Galaxy Microsystems Ltd), which has been manufacturing such cards for something like a decade, and it's a completely legit and quite affordable product, with good reviews.
However, China is also infamous for the sheer amount of scammers, masquerading as legit corporations, selling faked or otherwise illegitimate products. Apparently law enforcement in that country is quite lax on this front (and rumors are that in fact the Chinese government itself may be involved in many such shady businesses.)
I have advised earlier against purchasing graphics cards and USB sticks from eBay, especially if the price seems too good to be true. These Chinese fraudulent companies love to sell on eBay because it's such an easy, affordable and wide-reaching platform to sell fake products. (eBay has a consumer protection policy and mechanism in place, but the thing about these fake products is that they sometimes fool the buyer successfully enough that they don't realize having been scammed before it's too late.)
Of course eBay is not the only place where they sell their products. There are myriads of online services out there that act as kind of intermediaries between consumers and a big bunch of sellers, and their standards of quality may vary a lot. Sometimes the scammers will even sell directly, rather than through such services.
Cellphones are one product that I have not mentioned before, and which you should also be careful about. If some obscure-brand Android smartphone seems too cheap, it might be worth considering whether it's genuine or some type of scam. Doing a bit of online research is always warranted. Although that might not always help, if the product is so new that nobody has had time to test and review it.
Sometimes such smartphones may be relatively "legit" in that they work mostly as advertised, and may even serve all the functions a smartphone should. However, there have been cases where such a no-brand Android phone has turned out to be a scam in another way: It may come pre-installed with all kinds of malware, adware, backdoors and so on, and/or it may start surreptitiously downloading and installing such software. The scammers may use this for all kinds of illegitimate purposes, such as stealing your information, using your bandwidth at your cost, or using your phone for other shady activities. There have been documented cases.
It may sometimes be tempting to purchase a cheap product. However, you have to consider that you may be scammed (you don't get what you thought you were promised) or taken advantage of (such as getting bundled malware). Always do a bit of research, and be wary of products that seem to be from unknown or no-name companies, especially if the product is being sold online via services with unknown or questionable reputation. (If the product is being sold on reputable stores, there's a good chance it's legit.) Always search for online reviews (and more than one; never settle for the first one you find.)
Comments
Post a Comment