A Warning to Galaxy Note 9 Owners : Beware of Fake MicroSD Cards

Technically the warning here applies to all phones regardless of manufacturer but I am picking on Samsung specifically as they made it a huge point to say that the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 can be extended to 1 TB of space with the purchase of a 512 GB Micro SD Card… the problem however is that they did not mention the fact that 512 GB Micro SD cards are expensive and sites like Amazon/eBay/etc are full of scam artists that are chomping at the bit to sell their fake MicroSD cards to unsuspecting value hunters.

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I am honestly a bit annoyed that I need to re-visit this topic as I have covered Amazon’s problem with fake flash drives in the past and Amazon has not done anything to resolve this – even after I took the time to report dozens of fake MicroSD cards and they did promise to take action but failed to do so. It would be best to read that article before reading the rest of this post. Sadly I posted that article in May and most of those items are still on sale in August of 2018.

I have reached out to plenty of Note 9 customers who pre-ordered the 128 GB version of the Note 9 as they figured that they can save $250.00 by purchasing a 512 GB MicroSD card to increase their storage to match that of the more expensive 512 GB version of the Note 9. The problem is most of the legitimate MicroSD cards of that capacity are quite expensive so I fear that some potential buyers may fall victim of fake MicroSD Cards. Personally I ordered the 512 GB version to benefit from the additional RAM as well.

If you did purchase the Note 9 and want to augment your storage with a massive MicroSD card, be prepared to open your wallet as it is going to hurt a bit if you want to venture above a 256 GB MicroSD card (~$80-$120 on Amazon). A 400 GB MicroSD card will run you between $150 and $250 and a 512 GB will run you a eye watering $350.00 – so much for trying to save money by going with the 128 GB Note. Do yourself a favor and get one of the above MicroSD Cards if you want to expand your storage, all of them are highly rated and I own several myself.

I am picking on Samsung because their marketing really makes it seem like it is too easy for a user to expand their phone without much thought. Granted the process of installing a MicroSD card is simple, they fail to take cost into consideration which may not make it nearly as easy for customers. Technically this problem could impact all devices that use expandable storage but when you use example image for marketing…

What Are The Dangers of Fake MicroSD Cards

I stated in my original article that using fake MicroSD cards has consequences, the biggest danger of these fake MicroSD cards is data loss. Depending on how you use the MicroSD card, it can be days or months before you realize that you have been scammed and all of your photos are gone. Data recovery is impossible for these cards.

The other problem with these fake MicroSD cards is they are often manufactured in less than ideal conditions and with very questionable parts. I have personally seen one of these fake MicroSD cards (fake 32 GB card) overheat and melt a MicroSD card adapter. An overheating MicroSD card may cause damage to electronics or even an explosion if it catches a cell phone on fire. Remember that many cell phones that have a MicroSD card slot have it very close to the battery – we do not want the Note 9 to be a repeat of the Note 7.