STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

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madias
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:51 pm
Answers: 1

STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by madias »

Update
Aliexpress does not accept evidence

I posted the original statement of ST to Aliexpress while in dispute. Aliexpress rejected the dispute with this words:
"Evidence is not clear enough to show the problems"
So Aliexpress customer service cowards spit on buyers and last aid to sell counterfeit goods. Under EU law they would get to jail for that.

So: This is the third delivery of fake Chips on Bluepill, the dropout quote is about 28 pieces of 30!
Do not buy bluepills on Ebay and/or Aliexpress anymore!


Most of the buyers do not know that they bought fakes: The bluepill will blink, but with everything beyond that (DMA, ADC...) you get in serious troubles, because the fakes WILL fail.

Hello,
please spread this to other platforms
I got answer from ST, so please use this E-Mail as Evidence for every dispute or complaint if you got a chip with this serial number (most of the fakes use this one).

Original text
couterfeitSTM.JPG
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Regards Matthias
Last edited by madias on Wed Jan 29, 2020 6:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Alan3114
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2020 9:50 pm

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by Alan3114 »

You can sometimes spot fakes by the writing being slightly smaller on the chip. And also they have 3 round indentation holes on the top plastic.

It took me hours to work out I had fakes when anolog read wouldn't work when using injected channels on adc1 and adc2 :-(
Bingo600
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2019 3:56 pm

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by Bingo600 »

User techman-001 from eevblog , asked me to post an URL to his "Flash diagnostic" program.
It is NOT a specific fake detector , but it will verify if your "hidden upper 64K flashblock" on a STM32F103 passes a simple flash write test
Original STM F103's would have an extra/hidden but good 64K block.
Hey Bingo, if you're a member over there, any chance you could tell them about my free diagnostics binary that may help them determine if a STM32F1x is a fake ?
Explanation
https://mecrisp-stellaris-folkdoc.sourc ... diags.html

Download
https://sourceforge.net/projects/mecris ... n/download

/Bingo
madias
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:51 pm
Answers: 1

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by madias »

Alain: I know that there are many more fakes around, but I needed an official statement for my dispute on Aliexpress. Sadly these ****** closed the dispute BEFORE I got the evidence mail from ST. After that I wrote with the support of Ali, only friendly words, "we will do!..." blah.
So: ONLY open a dispute on Aliexpress if you have your "evidence" ready, because they spit on you as customer. Meanwhile I'm going to think about doing some legal steps against ali. Background: Aliexpress uses EU domains (like .de) so they aim a a specific group (customers of the domains country). A trial at the European Court of Justice is ongoing, so it could be they must obey European Rights in the future otherwise the could be a export ban.

Bingo: Thank you for this link, I know it already!

Sad but true, the classic Bluepill is dead. The story reminds me a little bit of all the FTDI counterfeits a few years ago.
User avatar
Pito
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2019 1:53 pm

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by Pito »

There are reports they simply fake the package markings, it is still stm32 inside, but a 32kB flash C6 (id 0x0412) or even C4 with 16kB.
Look at it what chip ID it returns.
Pukao Hats Cleaning Services Ltd.
ag123
Posts: 1655
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:30 am
Answers: 24

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by ag123 »

i think that is the most common fake / mod, as removing the markings is simply sand it off and laser engrave again
and they may substitute an m0 rather than m3
truly unscrupulous ones may not even bother to give a stm32 and simply substitute any cheap look alike
madias
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:51 pm
Answers: 1

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by madias »

Update
Aliexpress does not accept evidence

I posted the original statement of ST to Aliexpress while in dispute. Aliexpress rejected the dispute with this words:
"Evidence is not clear enough to show the problems"
So Aliexpress customer service cowards spit on buyers and last aid to sell counterfeit goods. Under EU law they would get to jail for that.

So: This is the third delivery of fake Chips on Bluepill, the dropout quote is about 28 pieces of 30!
Do not buy bluepills on Ebay and/or Aliexpress anymore!


Most of the buyers do not know that they bought fakes: The bluepill will blink, but with everything beyond that (DMA, ADC...) you get in serious troubles, because the fakes WILL fail.
lukew
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2020 4:05 pm
Answers: 1

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by lukew »

Mine from Amazon in the UK have the same markings. I'll get onto them about it as they were dispatched by Amazon. Was a few months back but they usually go above and beyond to help customers in my experiance.
arpruss
Posts: 83
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:06 pm

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by arpruss »

I wonder if eBay dispute resolution is more buyer friendly.
ag123
Posts: 1655
Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:30 am
Answers: 24

Re: STM32F103C8T6: Confirmation of counterfeiting by ST

Post by ag123 »

agree one may try amazon & ebay if the same items is available, there is a chance that the fake sellers won't list their wares on ebay or amazon if they know their wares are fake. a feel is that there is a chance either the seller fronting it do not know if it is fake and / or that they actually don't keep stocks and simply forward the order to a someone else who ship it, i.e. drop shipping.
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