Chicago (IL) - Sandisk today confirmed that counterfeit Cruzer mini USB Flash drives have appeared in the North American market. The company said that the problem occurs "on a very small scale" and that it works with law enforcement to detect the source of fake Sandisk drives.

At this time, the counterfeit Cruzer minis appear to be limited to a 1 GByte version. Users apparently can identify such devices only after unwrapping the drives, as drive design and packaging is identical with the original drives. However, the copied versions do not carry any software and Sandisk's CruzerLock software denies to be installed on a counterfeit device.

"We take the counterfeiting of Sandisk products, as well as any misuse of Sandisk trademarks, logos and packaging very seriously. All indications to date suggest that these issues occur on a very small scale, but even this is unacceptable," said Charles Van Orden, vice president and general counsel at Sandisk, in an email conversation with TG Daily.

Sandisk's Cruzer Mini drive

"We work both independently, and in conjunction with federal law enforcement, to identify the source of any counterfeit goods of which we become aware, and we take aggressive action against anyone we find trafficking in counterfeit Sandisk products or otherwise abusing our trademarks. We hope and expect that this 'zero tolerance' approach will convince anyone thinking they can make a quick buck on counterfeiting Sandisk goods to think again," Van Orden said.

The company recommends users to buy its products directly from Sandisk or consult the "Where to Buy" section to locate merchants in their region. In general, Sandisk advises customers that "if it sounds too good to be true (whether it be an extremely low price or a capacity not available from SanDisk), it probably is."