FAKE, FRAUDULENT COMPONENTS on Ali Express

We had been thiking that no one would go to the trouble of deliberately labeling electronic components as something that they are not.  Surely, we thought, the fake components we were seeing we probably just factory rejects that were swept up off the floor and sold rather than being discarded. 

But it is much worse than that.  This video from Spain shows how someone is taking PNP transistors and DELIBERATELY labeling them as Unijunction transistors.  And then selling the fake UJTs on Ali Express. 

The Spanish video priducer is, I think, far to kind to the fraudsters.  He claims that they are simply trying to get a decent price for their product. Apparently, in this view, buyers are unwilling to pay what it would be worth to make REAL UJTs.  So, what is a producer to do?  Just take some BJTs and FRAUDULENTLY labelt them, selling them as real UJTs to unsuspecting buyers. 

There is no sugar-coating this.  This is fraud.  

The video from Spain appears above.  Here is the article from Hack-A-Day:

https://hackaday.com/2025/08/04/the-scourge-of-fake-retro-components-like-unijunction-transistors/