"There are a lot of weird scam tools out there. Soaring power bills have made the "power saver" scam devices popular, but the other day I came across another odd one called a "USB Phone Battery Repair Multipurpose Battery Restorer Efficient Repair" dongle. Also: Want to cut your electric bill? Skip these scam 'power-saving' devices, and buy this instead It claims to do a lot, but rest assured, all it does is take your money."
"Before I plugged it into any device, I took precautions in case the dongle wanted to do something nefarious. After all, the duck on the box made me wonder if this was some sort of Rubber Ducky hack dongle. For the $5 I'd paid for it, that would have been cool. Also: You can buy refurbished tech from Back Market in person now - here's where But alas, apart from being a useless scam, it's quite innocent."
Scam devices marketed as battery restorers exploit consumer hope to extend battery life while providing no real functionality. A device sold as a multipurpose USB phone battery restorer cost about $5 and raised safety concerns before use. Internal inspection shows a plastic case with a small circuit board, two blue LEDs, and a single resistor; the LEDs light a fake display with Chinese text meaning "under repair." The packaging instructs hours-long, multiweek usage that prevents timely returns. The unit is electrically harmless but offers no battery-repair capability and effectively takes buyers' money.
Read at ZDNET
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