FBI Issues Consumer Warning About Fraudulent Batteries

Fake batteries pose health, safety, injury and death risks.

LOS ANGELES — The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a consumer warning about the dangers of counterfeit, fake, and fraudulent batteries. Batteries are a daily staple of consumer products and are common in toys, tools, phones, remotes, and smoke detectors. However, criminals are leveraging a global supply chain shortage and consumer inattention to rip off the public with dangerous fakes and scams that may result in injury or death.

Consumers who believe they are buying legitimate, safe batteries from Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Wish, and Newegg may be in for a surprise. Fraudulent batteries in smoke detectors, baby monitors, and health devices may catastrophically fail in a real emergency. Fraudulent batteries used in everyday devices like phones, laptops, and toys have an explosion and fire risk. The FAA identified 300 air/airport incidents (fires and smoke) between March 1991 and November 2020 involving lithium batteries carried as cargo or baggage.

The FBI makes the following recommendations:

• Always purchase batteries from legitimate and trusted sources, authorized dealers or distributors. Batteries from major brands undergo rigorous testing to ensure they’re safe for use.
• Avoid aftermarket batteries when possible because they may be dangerous.
• Always Avoid batteries that are not properly packaged, have misprinted or misspelled labels, have labels that peel off or do not have official manufacturer’s batch numbers.

Fraudulent Li-ion 18650 batteries used in laptops, flashlights, cameras, tool battery packs, hoverboards, toys, e-cigarettes and vape devices are particularly hazardou — they have a fire and explosion risk. Most fakes are easy to spot; there is no legitimate individual 18650 battery with a capacity above 3800mAh, yet batteries with wild capacity claims up to 12,000mAh are common online.

The fraudulent 18650 Li-ion batteries below were found or purchased on Amazon, Walmart, eBay, or Newegg.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or CPSC warned consumers not to buy or use loose 18650 lithium-ion battery cells. 18650 cells are manufactured as industrial component parts of battery packs and are not intended for individual sale to consumers. However, unscrupulous China salvagers separate the battery packs and re-label the recycled unprotected 18650 cells as “new” with wild capacity claims, selling them online through Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Newegg, Wish.com, and others

Consumers receiving a fraudulent 18650 Li-ion battery should stop using it immediately. Do not mail, ship, disassemble, or throw the battery in the trash; you may be responsible for an injury or death, and in violation of federal law. Find a qualified recycler for drop-off. Notify the e-commerce website and the seller you received a fraudulent battery and demand a refund, or cancel the charge on your credit card or Pay-Pal account.