Over 450 fake pen drives seized

Check before you buy a pen drive from your friendly neighbourhood stationary shop for you might just end up with a worthless piece of plastic casing at the cost of a few hundred rupees.

Check before you buy a pen drive from your friendly neighbourhood stationary shop for you might just end up with a worthless piece of plastic casing at the cost of a few hundred rupees.

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“We got an email about the circulation of such pen drives from a person who had been duped into buying a fake. We acted on the complaint and conducted investigations into the matter,” said KC Dwivedi, Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi district).

The investigations have led to arrests of three shop owners of Palika Bazaar and the recovery of around 454 such pen-drives and memory cards.

All these pen drives had been branded Kingston, which is one of the most popular brands. The police claimed that such pen drives are in circulation in different parts of the city and are being sold by everyone, from stationary shop owners to electronic and computer dealers.

In its raids, the police first arrested Vinod Kumar, whose shop in Palika Bazar allegedly had a number of these fake Kingston pen drives on sale, at a price ranging from Rs100 to Rs400.

After receiving the complaint, the police informed the Mumbai office of the US-based Kingston Technology, following which the company’s representatives came to the Capital to file a case.

“The official pointed out the fake pen drives displayed in the shop. The pen drives were seized. We promptly raided two more shops in the market and seized many fake pen drives and memory cards branded Kingston,” added Dwivedi.

The police has also arrested Amit Kumar and Tanuj Sharma, two more shop-owners in Palika Bazaar.

It is now trying to trace the manufacturing units of these pen drives. These knock-offs have been manufactured in bulk and distributed in grey markets all over the Capital, the police said.

Faking it

The fake pen drives come packed in inferior quality packaging.

The logo embossed on these pen drives comes off easily when scraped with a fingernail.

As they are mere plastic casings, they are a little lighter.

Vendors usually sell them at throwaway prices. For instance, an original 4MB pen drive costs around R450, while a fake one can be yours for a mere Rs150.