The NAND shortage just opened the floodgates for scammers, and one unlucky buyer in India learned this the hard way after dropping $207 on what looked like a legit Samsung 990 Pro 2TB. Plot twist: the thing barely runs faster than a flash drive from 2005.
A Reddit user posted their nightmare after buying the SSD from a local distributor, someone they apparently trusted, which makes it worse.
Windows detected it perfectly as a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB. CrystalDiskInfo confirmed the drive with what seemed like original firmware version 0B2QJXD7 and showed “Good” health status. Everything checked out until they actually tried using it.
File transfers tanked to about 20 MB/s read and 9-10 MB/s write. For context, that’s pathetically slower than most USB 2.0 thumb drives.
The real Samsung 990 Pro crushes sequential speeds at 7,450 MB/s read and 6,900 MB/s write. This fake barely moved files, making it useless for gaming, video editing, or literally anything beyond maybe storing text documents you’ll never actually open.
The counterfeit gets caught
What’s disturbing is how well the scammers replicated everything. The label looked flawless with correct logos, text alignment, and model information, stuff that usually gives away fakes immediately.
The firmware tricked Windows into believing it was genuine Samsung hardware. Only one detail exposed it early: CrystalDiskInfo showed the drive running at PCIe 3.0 instead of PCIe 4.0, which the real 990 Pro supports.
When the victim finally ran Samsung Magician, the software flagged it as counterfeit. Underneath, the fake used a cheap Realtek RTS5765DL controller, a PCIe 3.0 DRAM-less chip that scammers love because it’s dirt cheap and available.
The real 990 Pro uses Samsung’s own Pascal PCIe 4.0 controller, which is vastly superior. Even the NAND chips were bogus, with a model number that doesn’t exist.
The NAND shortage created the perfect storm for this garbage to flood the market. Prices skyrocketed, making “deals” look tempting. The victim paid 19,000 INR ($207) when the real 2TB 990 Pro retails for over 30,000 INR ($327) in India. That price difference should’ve been the first red flag, but hindsight’s brutal.
Don’t get burned
These counterfeits aren’t just on sketchy Chinese sites like AliExpress or Temu anymore. They’ve infiltrated major retailers including Amazon, Walmart, and Newegg through third-party marketplace sellers. Even buying from what seems like a trusted local distributor isn’t safe, as this case proves.
If you’re shopping for SSDs right now, stick to authorized retailers, avoid deals that seem too good, and always verify with Samsung Magician immediately after installation.
Check the PCIe generation in CrystalDiskInfo, if a 990 Pro shows PCIe 3.0 instead of 4.0, return it instantly. The era of cheap storage is over thanks to AI-driven NAND demand, so any massive discount is probably a scam.
Follow Geek Realm Hub on Facebook for more tech horror stories and how to avoid getting scammed. We’re keeping you safe, one post at a time!