On Monday (19 November 2018), SatoshiLabs, the Prague-based maker of the popular crypto hardware wallet Trezor (“the world’s first cryptocurrency hardware wallet”), issued a public service announcement (PSA) to say that fake Trezor One devices had been spotted for sale on the market.
The Trezor team pointed out on their official blog that although “Trezor clones have been released over the years” they have been in business, in recent weeks, they had made a “startling” discovery:
“A one-to-one copy of Trezor One. In other words, a fake Trezor device, manufactured by a different, unknown vendor.”
“While Trezor clones are marketed under a different name, manufactured by (legitimate) legal companies, allowing you to distinguish them from the original, a fake Trezor tries to replicate the original to the bone. It seeks to be as indistinguishable from the original as possible. It is not dissimilar to counterfeit brand clothing.”
They then said that these are the two red flags that can help to determine if a “Trezor One” device is a counterfeit copy:
- price: “a fake Trezor One is often sold at a steep discount”
- hologram: (note that fake holograms are often quite similar to those used in their older packaging)
Finally, they warned people to be very careful “when buying on other marketplaces, such as eBay, Taobao, AliExpress, unknown Amazon resellers or other places,” and that if there was any uncertainty “about the authenticity of the seller or the channel,” buyers should “always proceed with the official channels,” such as “the official Trezor shop, official Amazon shop or from official resellers.”
All Images Courtesy of SatoshiLabs
