Lethality of Non-Genuine Phone Charging Plugs?

Hi guys! I will be talking about phone charging again...

So when I was scrolling through my Facebook posts, I saw one post which caught my attention.

"Deadly fake iPhone charger accidents continue to plague thrifty users"

At first, I was relieved that I don't own such a charger. But then, it came to me that I HAVE used charging cables not supplied from my phone vendor. While I did not think of what are the risks of using those kinds of accessories in the past, I think it is time for me to do some soul searching.

I did some searching on the Web to find out incidents when you use fake chargers. 

Here's a relatively recent incident in my hometown, Singapore, in May 2013.

The interior of the
seemingly "exploded"
charger socket.
Source: http://blog.nus.edu.sg/
linus/2013/05/14/fakeusb/

Main source: http://blog.nus.edu.sg/linus/2013/05/14/fakeusb/

In the National University of Singapore (NUS), one student charging her phone noticed smoke emerging from her phone charger. Luckily, she reacted quickly and turned off the main switch in the nick of time. 

When she tried to pluck the charger out of the socket, the charger casing gave way - the other half of the charger plug was stuck in the socket. 

The interior of the charger was blackened, and parts of the electronic circuits had disappeared, apparently due to the extreme overheating of inferior materials used to make the inferior charger. 

Here are 2 others incident in China.

Main source: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1286125/man-coma-after-using-unauthorised-charger-iphone-4?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The man's iPhone and the charger at scene of incident.
Source: http://www.scmp.com/news/...&utm_medium=twitter

A Chinese national is left in a comatose state, struggling to stay alive after receiving a heavy electric shock when he tried to charge his iPhone with an unauthorized charger.

He was holding his iPhone on his left hand, and inserting the phone charger into the electrical outlet with the right hand. He then suddenly fell to the floor twitching. His sister had helped to unplug the charger from the outlet, but she also felt a mild shock. She observed foaming from her brother's mouth

Main source: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1283818/woman-electrocuted-while-answering-iphone-may-have-been-using-fake

A screenshot by CCTV (China Central Television) of
the iPhone and the charger.
Main source: China Central Television
Source: http://www.scmp.com/news/...have-been-using-fake

A flight stewardess was charging her iPhone 4 when she picked up the call while the phone was still charging, and got electrocuted. Reports infer that she might have been also using a fake charger.

In these cases, the victims are all suspected of using non-genuine phone chargers.

Yes, using fake phone chargers can be scary, dangerous AND lethal. Why is it so?

This is because inside a non-genuine charger, some IMPORTANT SAFETY PARTS are missing. Sometimes, the charger may produce more volts than usual to charge the phone itself. If it exceed the maximum output, who knows what danger may happen?

Why can't we spot those fake chargers easily?

Some fake chargers are printed with a safety mark like genuine ones. We cannot possibility be able to dismantle the charger on the spot (when you are buying it) to check its interiors, can we?

Why are people still buying them?

Fake chargers are "real" chargers at up to 90% off the cost price of a REAL, GENUINE charger. A real charger may cost 25 bucks, a fake one may cost 5 bucks. Both of them has the same purpose. Which one would you buy?

Many people would say, "Go for the cheaper goods! It is cost efficient and long-lasting!". How true is that? 

"Oh my... 25 bucks. I'll go for the one that costs 5 bucks."

There is a saying, "Do not judge a book by its covers."
Definitely that 25 bucks may be a tad expensive, but buying a more expensive product that is provides more safety than the one that costs 5 bucks and provides little or even zero safety is more worth it, right?

A blogger, Ken Shirriff, shares with all his experiences with USB chargers.

His blog can be seen from here: http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

I decided to share his blog here because he gives detailed and well-explained procedures on genuine and counterfeit USB chargers. Here's 1 quote from his blog:

Stay away from super-cheap AC adapters built by mystery manufacturers. Spend the extra few dollars to get a brand-name AC adapter. It will be safer, produce less interference, and your device's touchscreen will perform better. 

Source: http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html

Please leave comments if you have any questions, thank you!