I can't believe dangerous (...) like this is available on Amazon! They need to start stamping this out! It's more than just fake, it's dangerous! Look at those so called hoverboard things.....

There is so much of this kind of crap at the moment, the hoverboards are just the tip of the iceberg! That's why I pulled out all the mains electrics from the LED light effect. Not to mention the WiFi repeater that comes apart while still plugged in, giving access to exposed live contacts.

So the wire is thinner than what's actully printed on it? I haven't seen that done.
Still looks like its thick enough to easily power a bubble machine though.

Yes, this seems to be a common problem these days. Doing the PAT testing for a local company last week and found a few 'ebay' purchases they'd made that either had illegal, unfused 13A plugs, fake flex like that in the picture above, or both. To the eye, the cable looks thick enough from outside as they just bulk up the PVC content to make up for the lack of copper - copper being more expensive than the PVC insulation, this is a way to make the cable cheaper to produce, but also extremely dangerous if someone uses it for a higher load that the genuine item might reasonably be expected to handle. When I find such items when testing, they get a failed label, I don't even bother trying to repair them. If the plug & flex are unsafe, the item has clearly never been tested and the CE or BS markings on it can be assumed to be fake, so whats to say the item itself isn't just as bad?

Esther Rantzen and Lynn Faulds Wood back in the day would have Russell Hobbs in tears on national television back in the day. But sadly by hook or by crook people are happy to line the pockets of the ever growing "cheep-shoddy-goods.ch" than to pay more for a quality product.s. 30 years ago people would steer well clear of rubbish tat, World wide it seems "we don't care how (...) this product is but as long as were shipping millions of them were keeping world trade going and that's ALL that counts" Really annoys me!

I find many people have no idea of the potential dangers of this kind of stuff and are quite surprised when they realise.

I'm guessing no one really cares any more. I don't want to pay £35 or £40 for a made in Britain Thorn Pop Pack that would last 40+ years when I can get a £10 Chinese Eterna that will last 5 years at which point the misses would want a new kitchen anyhow. It's a bit like Cheap TVs They fit the cheapest capacitors in the PSU as they know they will blow just beyond the guarantee and as we are all programmed for a consumable society, recycle the old and buy new.

LOL, that sums it up perfectly there Angus!

are these for extention leads?

No, I believe this is fitted to an appliance / device.

There is so much horrendously nasty kit on the market these days. Potentially dangerous junk that really needs a good going over on a workbench before use, or even better, the nearest bin! From exploding phone chargers to unfused plugs with unshielded pins or all three pins shielded.

It's a shame really that there is so much tat like this coming from (mostly) China that it fuels the rumour that everything from there is rubbish...which it's not. When they want to they can make as decent gear as anyone, Rigol make some cracking scopes and I've just moved to a Huawei P9 smartphone (after several Samsungs), and it really feels like a premium product - seeing things like this really makes me feel sorry for those actually producing the goods and having to face these stereotypes!

According to a Big Clive video (what a legend he is, love his teardowns!), these fake flexes are actually made with copper plated aluminium!!! And the 'insulation' that vaguely resembles PVC, it can be picked away with the most trimmed fingernails! Truly ghastly stuff! My advice to anyone buying kit from China. Bin all supplied mains cables and give the unit a good going over before putting into service.