Is Your Seagate External Hard Drive Real? A Hard Drive Fraud Ring Uncovered in Malaysia

Seagate has uncovered a Seagate external hard drive and internal hard drive fraud ring in Malaysia. Here’s what’s happening!

According to sources on the Web, Seagate has uncovered a Seagate external hard drive fraud ring in Asia: investigators have uncovered a workshop where used Seagate hard drives were being “converted” into new ones.

The Seagate External Hard Drive Scam

According to the German news source, at the beginning of 2025, hundreds of readers from Germany, Australia, and the United States have started contacting them and saying that they have bought new hard drives, but unfortunately, received used ones.

According to the research, the hard drives similar to the Seagate external hard drive likely originated in China and were used as a storage facility for cryptocurrency. However, mining this cryptocurrency has reportedly become unprofitable and the hard drives were resold after the sellers have changed their data that is used to assess the health of the hard drives known as SMART. The scheme was uncovered because Seagate external hard drive and other Seagate solutions store data that is harder to delete than the SMART data.

According to the German source, other external hard drives were also found in the facility, including hard drives made by Toshiba and Western Digital. There were around a million of such hard drives, though how many of them have been sold remains uncertain for now.

Six men were connected to the scam: according to sources, they have reset SMART data, then cleaned and re-packaged the Seagate hard drives before they have been sent out for shipping. The hard drives were reportedly sold through Shopee and Lazada.

According to Seagate, similar scams are likely to grow in nature and they are taking measures to ensure that all customers receive genuine Seagate external hard drive and hard drive equipment.

Staying Safe on the Web

Buying safer Seagate external hard drive and other equipment isn’t likely to be enough to protect you from scams and other threats offline and on the Web. To stay safe, consider using data breach search engines like BreachDirectory.com. BreachDirectory will let you search for your email address, username, IP address and tell you if any of those data classes are at risk while also allowing you to dig into domains, KEV/CVE data, blockchain addresses, threat actors, and a variety of other things to ensure that your data is safe online. Aside from that, BreachDirectory will also help you in investigating blockchain addresses and seeing whether they’re linked to any malicious activities on the Web or beyond, and help you perform other investigative activities.

Summary

A large-scale hard drive fraud ring has been uncovered in Malaysia where threat actors changed data pertaining to older hard drives and re-sold them as new products on marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada.

To stay safe online and avoid scams related to Seagate external hard drive and other products, ensure you’re buying products from official websites and make good use of cybersecurity products like data breach search engines to ensure that even if your data ends up being stolen, you know what’s stolen and when, and what to do in regards to the data breach.

FAQ

What’s Up with the Seagate External Hard Drive Scam?

The Seagate hard drive scam refers to a Seagate external hard drive and internal hard drive fraud ring originating in Malaysia where threat actors change data pertaining to the hard drives and re-sell them as new products on marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada.

How to Avoid Scams Like the Seagate External Hard Drive Scam?

To avoid scams like the Seagate external hard drive scam, ensure that you’re buying the internal or the Seagate external hard drive from Seagate and not from other sources. That way, you will ensure that the product that reaches you is the original and haven’t been tampered with.

Why Should I Use Data Breach Search Engines?

Consider using data breach search engines like BreachDirectory.com because such data breach search engines allow you to check whether your personal information is at risk by allowing you to search for email addresses, usernames, or IP addresses, as well as other sensitive information or help you investigate cybercrime if you’re already fallen victim to identity theft or other attacks.