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"The FBI's warning is not specific to laptops or smartphones," notes ZDNet, "which makes sense given that batteries are now found in everything from cars, scooters, e-bikes, e-cigarettes and trains to drones and more." Thanks to Slashdot reader joshuark for sharing the story.

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I doubt anyone will get around to making sellers, like Amazon, check their third-party sellers, but it would be nice.

> I doubt anyone will get around to making sellers, like Amazon, check their third-party sellers, but it would be nice.

It's way too hard to spot things like bogus USB drives [amazon.com] on the site. It must've taken me a whole minute to find this link.

But it's way easier to tell the masses to fix the problem for you (as if they haven't been trying this whole time). We bought 2 different supposedly OEM quality batteries for an older Lenovo laptop (X220). Lenovo didn't sell batteries at the time. They had less than half the expected capacity, which was already less than the extended battery we bought it with. Offered like 30-60 minutes of battery time vs. expected 4-6 hrs. Extended battery was another 2-3 hrs.

Also were less than half the cost of the original... ($30 vs. 80). Still, it felt like we got cheated. But there is nothing we can do about the lies in the ads.

Just realized...maybe Google and Microsoft and Amazon are actively fighting liability in advertising since they make so much money from bad ads.

The problem is identifying third party sellers and enforcing judgments against them. When you see a brand name like ZYXWVUT on eConmerceGiant-dot-com, you can bet that there isn't actually a company with that name that you can sue or prosecutors can prosecute. As soon as it looks like their misdeeds might catch up to them, they will disappear and become ABCDEFG instead.

they will disappear and become ABCDEFG instead.

they will disappear and become ABCDEFG instead.

Thank goodness, looks like I’m in the clear. My new QWERTY 45 amp hour battery for my old Lenovo should get here soon, can’t believe it was only 30 bucks!

They're an important part of the marine ecosystem. Won't someone think of the poor electric eels that need to recharge?

The FBI is only about 10-12 years too late...

Amazon has had mostly fake OEM cell phone batteries for years.

Pretty sure Amazon also cashes in on the exorbitant prices charged for the must-have genuine OEM batteries sold by Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Olympus, etc.

I remember paying around $90 for replacement Nikon batteries almost 20 years ago.

eBay had similar for $15. They didn't last as long but still represented better value.

Probably because the actual danger is overstated. Every no-name cell phone power bank/portable USB charger uses a lithium battery from the lowest bidder, and you really don't hear about those things exploding left and right. Mostly, crap quality batteries just hold less capacity than their specified ratings (sometimes significantly so), and only last a limited number of charge cycles before the battery management circuit decides it's not safe to allow the battery to be charged and it becomes a brick.

The key word here is "counterfeit".

funny, I've been buying non-OEM batteries for years for things like laptops, and they work just as well but a fifth the cost. Sometimes you can buy one with 10 or greater percent more capacity too.

Someone tell me the big laptop names aren't just buying the same crap and putting their sticker on it. Oh yes, it was put in magic inspection machine that checked a hundred things? yeah bullshit.

I bought several replacement dumbphone (and one for an iPod with the monochrome LCD, remember those?) batteries back in the day. They were all crap which barely held a charge. These days, most electronics include a battery that usually outlasts the useful life of the device. I haven't actually had to buy a replacement battery for anything I own in recent memory.

Even my DJI Spark drone, which is quite long in the tooth at this point, still has batteries which are in usable condition.

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