October 21, 2016: As a follow-on to our ‘fire-hot’ topic about the burning iPhone 7: Apple has sued Mobile Star, a manufacturer from New York for making and selling counterfeit chargers and cables via Amazon. The consumer product safety and testing organization UL) published the report that stated among that fake Apple branded chargers “lack the safety features necessary to protects users from shock and fire hazards” and “were so poorly designed and constructed that they posed a risk of lethal electrocution to the user.”
Contents
Apple Files Suit Against NJ Company That Sold Counterfeit Products On Amazon | Tech Bet | CNBC [Video]
Video uploaded by CNBC on October 21, 2016.
Apple Sues Mobile Star LLC for Counterfeit Chargers and Cables
It was the increasing number of negative reviews from customers that alerted Apple Corporation and invoked further investigation of the matter. Customers report chargers catching fire and melting, and the angry feedbacks were snowballing.
On Mobile Star’s official web site, the company positions itself as an authorized distributor of Apple chargers for iPhones, MacBooks, iPods, and iPads. But is the company authorized to manufacture them? The answer is no, they aren’t. They abused Apple owners and undermined their trust in the reliability of Apple products, as well as in Amazon’s reputation.
So, if you bought your charger from Mobile Star, you got a counterfeit product. But this company isn’t the only one that makes fake accessories for popular gadgets. We highly recommend you follow the tips Apple posted to help you to identify your cable or\and charger.
Here’s the picture embedded for your convenience:
According to patentlyapple.com, Apple purchased a number of Apple power adapters and charging and syncing cables (collectively “power products”) that were directly sold by Amazon.com, not a third-party seller, and determined that they were counterfeit. Amazon.com informed Apple that Mobile Star was its source for the majority of these counterfeit Apple products. Amazon.com turned over to Apple additional inventory of Apple power products that Amazon.com had purchased from Mobile Star, and Apple determined that the vast majority of these products were counterfeit.
In June 2016, Fortune Magazine announced that Amazon.com was seen as the most “influential” and most “trustworthy” company among U.S. adults. For three years in a row, 2014-2016, Amazon.com has been ranked as the “most reputable” American company by the Reputation Institute, as reported by Forbes Magazine.