The Charge Card: A Scam or Not?

As Krazy Ken begins his video, he explains that he has successfully cleared out every scam buster tip that was submitted to his box. However, there's still one in there from November 2021 that has left him confused. The video is about a Charge Card that supposedly charges your phone in just 10 seconds.

The first part of the video shows the presenter claiming that this card can indeed charge your phone in such a short amount of time. He places the card on his iPhone screen, and it shows a progress bar draining from the card while the iPhone battery indicator fills up quickly. The result? A fully charged phone in just 10 seconds.

The presenter then proceeds to show the second video, where he claims that this card charges your phone even faster - in just a few seconds. He lays the card on the screen of his iPhone, and it rapidly charges to 52%. This is what leads Krazy Ken to believe that the product might be defective, but he's not ready to rule it out as a scam just yet.

As Krazy Ken continues, he reminds his viewers that people are often tricked by scams like this. He compares it to another infamous scam involving a microwave oven battery charger. He also mentions that when you search for "Charge Card" on Google without the space in between, you get tons of results for similar-looking devices with the same name and function.

Krazy Ken decides to divide his attention between analyzing the Charge Card and researching other Charge Cards to see what he can find out about them. He enlists the help of Pixel Peeper 3000, who offers to analyze the device and report its origins. Meanwhile, Krazy Ken researches the other Charge Card to see if he can uncover any more information.

The investigation leads Krazy Ken to Facebook, where he finds an ad for a product called ChargeCard. He's intrigued by the account name, AquaVault, which sounds familiar. After digging deep into his memory palace, he recalls season six, episode 22 of a TV show that he used to watch. It seems that this is related to the Charge Card investigation.

As Krazy Ken continues to dig, he learns more about the Charge Card and its origins. The article will continue to develop this story further.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- The ChargeCard is not a scam.Wait, is it this Charge Card?`Oh, great.Now I'm confused.All I know is one is real and one is fake.(techno music)Hey, everyone, how are you all doing?If you're new here, welcome.My name is Krazy Ken, and we did it.We successfully clearedout every scam buster tipthat you all submitted to my box. (laughs)But wait a minute,there's still one in here.Oh my gosh.Oh gosh.How long has this been in there?November 2021?Oh, son of a biscuit!Back in 2021, a viewer sent mea TikTok about a Charge Card,which charged this guy'sphone in 10 seconds.And in 2023, a differentviewer sent me another videoabout the same card doingalmost the same thing.Seems too good to be true, right?But in this day and age of internet scamsand fake viral videoseverywhere, people are boundto be fooled by this trick,or at least question thelegitimacy of such a product.Man, you are dusty.Ugh.And to make it even morecomplicated, there's two productsthat share the same name, butone is real and one is fake.And while I love debunking scams,I also like protectingproducts that aren't scams.So let's break it down.In the first video, it startswith the presenter claiming this cardcan charge your phone in 10 seconds.Then he places the cardon his iPhone screen,and it shows a progressbar draining from the cardwhile the iPhone batteryindicator fills up quickly.And boom, 100% charge in 10 seconds.- Fully charged!Oh my God.- In the second video,the presenter claims thiscard charges your phonein a few seconds.He then lays it on thescreen of his iPhone,and it rapidly charges two 52%.Not 100% like in the TikTok.Must be a defective model.Some of you are probablyalready yelling at your screenabout the technologicalproblems with this,and don't worry, we'lltalk about that stuff soon.But it's important to remember,people do get tricked by this stuff.It's our job to be patient andeducate folks along the way.Hey, remember that microwaveoven battery charging scam?Yeah, people fall for this crap.Now, here's where the storygets a little bit confusing.When you bing Charge Card, you get, sorry,I couldn't say that with a straight face.Nobody uses Bing.When you Google Charge Card,especially if you leave thespace out of the middle,you get tons of results forthis similar-looking device,which has the same nameand appears to serve the same function.So let's divide and conquer.Pixel Peeper 3000.- Howmay I serve you today?- I need you to analyze this Charge Cardand report its origins.While you do that, I'llresearch the other ChargeCardand see what I can find.- Absolutely.Happy to help.- Thanks.You're in a good mood today.- I havea new appreciation for lifeafter CrowdStrike almost murdered me.- Totally understandable.I hope she forgot I owe her $4,000-- You owe me $4,000.- Ah, (bleep)!It didn't take long forme to find the originsof ChargeCard becauseFacebook already read my mindand served an ad to me.Thanks?The funny thing is I barely paid attentionto the product becauseI was more intriguedby the account name, AquaVault.That name sounded really familiar.So I entered the depthsof my memory palaceand... wow, it's actuallyreally empty in here.Anyway, I dug deep andrecalled season six,episode 22 of \"SharkTank,\" where Rob, Jonathanand Avin pitched aproduct named AquaVault.A portable safe whichsecures your valuableswhile you're at the pool or beach.They sought a $75,000 investmentfor a 12% stake in the business.Robert offered 75,000 for 25%.They said no.Then Daymond offered 75,000 for 25%.And they said yes.I totally understand.I mean, Daymond's got that...what do the kids call it?Rizz.But no matter how hard you look,you will not see the ChargeCard.And as you can probably imagine,this safe cannot charge your phone.So what the heck?What's the connection between a beach safeand a phone charger?I thought I had the company name mixed upin my head, but no.Sure enough, when you goto the AquaVault website,the ChargeCard is front and center.Well, I found out what the connection was,and the connection lieswithin the pandemic.Despite AquaVault growingto a $26.5 million business,they faced challenges in early 2020when COVID-19 spread throughout the worldand travel ceased.the AquaVault company needed to pivotto a product that was pandemic proof.And what do people have with themno matter what happens in the world?Their smartphones.They probably hold themright side up though.Jonathan et. al realizedthis and created ChargeCard,and years later, in late 2024,they are still doing business today.Sounds like they made the right move.So, you know what I did next, right?I went ahead and bought one.I went to the website and deemed it safe.Nothing tripped my bull detector.Good job.Yes, other scams haveused the Shark Tank nameto try to legitimize their brand,but keep in mind that notall of these are real.In fact, ABC released aPSA about this a while ago.And if you ever want to check if a productwas on Shark Tank, they have a list.And look, there's AquaVault.So in this case, it's safe to continue.There's a wired versionand a wireless version,but we'll use the wiredone and boom, order in.Now we just have to wait for it to arrive.Sorry, force of habit.Sometimes, when I order stuff,it ships with that really fastportal shipping technology.And holy sh-Okay, so this is it.Let's take a look.The card ships in asimple box with a window,and along with the card, you get a USB-Ato micro USB power cableto charge the card.And you get three additional cablesto charge your other devices, lightning,micro USB, and USB-C.You can swap them outwhenever you need to,and they plug in neatlyalong the side of the card.When you're ready to charge,just flip out the cable,plug it in, and press the power button.According to the specs,the ChargeCard outputs1.5 amps at five voltsfor 7 1/2 watts of power.And the battery itself has a capacityof 2,300 milliamp hours.In a real-world application,ChargeCard was ableto charge my iPhone seven's1,960 milliamp power batteryfrom completely dead to 90% in two hours.And that's when theChargeCard ran out of juice.And I think that's prettygood for a thin design,which easily fits into a wallet.So the ChargeCard works as advertised,and it is not a scam.In fact, I think it's pretty cool.And this etched stainlesssteel here just looksand feels really premium.The only claim I have a problem withis ultra fast charging technology.And I have two problems with this.One, they list the amperage.The charging speed is determined by watts,which is amps times volts.So you're only showinghalf of the equation here.And problem two, theoutput is only 7 1/2 watts,which is not a lot of powerfor charging a smartphonein this day and age,especially when other power bankslike the mophie powerstationmini use USB-C PDto deliver 20 watts.But perhaps you could argue 7 1/2is still good for something so small.I guess that's subjective,but I'd say it's stilla bit on the slow side,but ultimately, you'repaying for the small size.Also, just kind of a random thing.On their website, I don'tknow why they use a graphicof a sun with the abbreviationfor ultraviolet light whenthey talk about charging.Like this isn't solar powered or anything.I don't know, maybe they justran out of clip art to use.Oh, you know, they probably typed in ultraand got ultraviolet.I have no freaking idea.So that still leaves uswith the other Charge Card,which seems way too good to be true.So something weird isdefinitely going on with that.The good news is Pixel Pepperis almost done analyzing.So in the meantime, I could talk aboutLaifen's electric toothbrushes.I'll talk about the LaifenWave features in a moment.But first, let's just look at that design.If Apple made a toothbrush,it would definitely be this.I love how it's inspiredby apple's design,even down to the packaging.Heck, it even has motion-activated lightsand soft pulsating rhythms.It's just a really attractive toothbrush.Just look at those details up close.I almost feel like a British manshould start talking about them.We love you, Jony.Wave's proprietary servosystem helps clean deeplywithout hurting your gums.And it's driven by a 6.1 wattmotor compared to two wattsin many other toothbrush motors.And the bristles oscillate 60 degrees,much more than 13 to 18 degreeslike you get on other brushes.And the brush vibrates66,000 times per minute,which is about double whatyou get on other brushes.It's also IPX7 water resistant.And if you really want tocustomize your experience,you can use the Laifen app toadjust the vibration strengthand the oscillation range and speed.You can also adjust the brushing timebetween one and five minutes.And here's the icing on the cake.Magnetic charging.It really is like an Apple product.Now, I know I've talkedabout life in before,but here's something newI haven't shown you yet.New colors.We have blue and pink inaluminum and plastic finishes.So go ahead and click thelink in the descriptionto get your own Laifen Wave.And when you do that,you're also supporting the Computer Clan.So thank you very much.- Goodnews, Ken, the results are in.- Wow, that took a long timefor a 1.1 exaFLOP supercomputer, but okay.- Oh, Ijust padded out the analysisso I could bill you more.- Oh, that's actually quite smart-Wait, WHAT?!-I have sent the resultsto your printer and yourbill to your mailbox.Have a good day.- I can't believe she actuallyhas to print out the results.I mean, what century is this?And it's in Wingdings.Yay.Luckily, I can read Wingdings.The fake Charge Card is from a websitenamed penguinmagic.com.Oh, so it's a prop from magic trick.Now I get it.The content creators madeit seem kind of deceiving,but I guess I could havededuced they were magiciansif I would've just...visited their profilesand saw the magic-related branding.Oh.Yeah.Context. Am I right?A little bit of factchecking goes a long way.The Charge Card product page impliesthis is not a realcharger, but a party trick.Even Nick in the demo videoexplicitly says it's an illusion.- The card itself is an illusion.- However, I take umbrage with this line,\"Top tech people around theworld have been baffled.\"Really?If you were a top tech person,you would know this isphysically impossible.And I'll explain why soon using science.But you know what I gotta do first?I went ahead and bought one.Done.When it arrives, we'lltake a look at the illusionand see how it actually works.But in the meantime, I'd like to talkabout this rapid chargingscenario because it's impossible,and I'd like to explainwhy it's impossible.And even if we couldmagically push all this powerto the phone, it would bereally bad for your battery.Here's the science.Phones have circuitswhich limit the wattageof the USB port will accept.That's what these numbersrepresent on your power brick.But let's make pretend,let's say you're using amagical outlet, which can supplyas much power as you needin unlimited quantity,and we massively increase the wattageto your phone's battery byincreasing the amperage,not the voltage in this scenario.Your USB cable would meltfrom the intense heatgenerated from the electrical current.And it may go without saying,but the cable would becomequite the fire hazardand it could harm you as well.If you want to see morecable overload goodness,check out this video from John Ward.I could watch this all day.Overloading wires willbreak your electronicsand your appliances andpossibly start fires.To keep people and equipment safe,different wires have differentgauges and diameters.The lower the gauge,the larger the diameterand the more amp capacity,or ampacity, a wire can sustain.So that's what would hypothetically happento the charging cable.But what about the battery in your phone?If you charged a full smartphonebattery in 10 seconds,you'd likely create some sort of explosionand/or start a fire.Batteries have resistance.No electrical system is 100% efficient,so energy will always be lostduring the charging process.And that leftover energythat's not being usedto actually charge yourphone becomes heat.And if you force that much powerinto a battery really quickly,the battery would becomereally, really hot.In this case, thermal runaway may occur,which is a chain reactioninside the batterywhere the heat causes a chemical reactionand that reaction produces even more heat.And the cycle keeps going.The battery would bedestroyed, completely useless.And in this exaggeratedhypothetical scenario,it would also be a very hazardous battery.Don't try this at home.Try it at your friend's house-So far, we discussed these hypotheticalswith wired charging, which is conductive,but the Charge Cardimplies wireless charging,which is inductive.Meaning conductors don'tphysically touch each otherduring the charging process.That's how wireless chargers work.Like Apple's MagSafe for iPhone,they use inductive chargingand they don't physicallyplug into a device.To achieve wireless charging,electric current is passedthrough a copper coil.One electric current ispassed through a conductor,in this case, the copper wire,a magnetic field is generatedaround the conductor.And when wound into a coil,the field is concentrated and stronger.The copper coil we discussed,resides in the chargingpad or transmitter.And a second copper coil, the receiveris built inside your smartphone.When the transmitter is poweredand the receiver coilis in close proximityto the transmitter coil,an electric charge is induced into it,meaning an electric stateis produced by proximity,not by physical contact.And to maintain the charge,we need lots of transistors,which are inside variouscomponents like an inverterwith a high-frequency oscillator.These components changethe current's polarityback and forth rapidlycreating alternating current.Wireless chargers use alternating currentinstead of direct current, because DCdoesn't cause much inductive action.I can hear some of you saying, \"Gee, Ken,that sounds way more inefficientthan just having theconductors touch directly.\"Yeah, you're right.Wireless charging is not asefficient as wired charging.But as humans, sometimes,we'd like to trade off electricefficiency for convenience.Since more total,electrical power is requiredto create useful poweroutput for wireless chargingcompared to wired charging,more heat will be generatedand efficiency will dip.That's why you mightexperience a warmer phoneif you're charging on awireless pad at 15 wattscompared to 15 watts on a wired charge.Now this Charge Cardappears to charge the phonethrough the screen, not on the back panelwhere the receiving coilis inside smartphones.Could this work in theory?Sure, but with something thisthin and small, not a chance.This card has no roomto store battery cells,proper thermals, integrated circuits,or even the transmitter coil.It's thinner than the coil itself.This cannot be done.And even if this cardcould charge the phonethrough the screen, theextra distance would dropthe efficiency significantly.The card would need to draw more powerto charge the phone at the same wattageand the heat would increase.This whole scenario is extremelyimprobable, but that's okaybecause it's magic.If you'd like to learn moreabout electrical principlesand see me debunk other ridiculous claims,check out these other episodes.I'm sure you'll love them.And looky here.The Charge Card arrived.Let's test it out.Inside the baggie isthe Charge Card itself,and a second card witha secret URL and code.This URL brings you to a website,which gives you instructionson how to perform the magic trick,and it gives youdownloadable visual assetsyou can use on your iPhone.The code unlocks the video,and we see Nick again,and he demonstrates howto set up the trick.Okay, I will take a look at it right now.Okay, I think I get the gist.What you need to do is addthe images to a photo album,and when you perform your trick,secretly play the slideshowand then lay the phone downwith the card for your spectator.They will see the Charge Card Progress Baranimate through the transparent window.But truthfully, it's just pixelson your phone screen shining through.There's two image sets.One is more genericwith the simple batteryprogress bar on black,and the second onecombines the progress barwith the iOS control centerand seemingly real battery status icon.Now that you have the imagesand the slideshow, all you haveto do is practice a littlebit and master the timing.To make the illusion run smoother,I made a shortcut withthe iOS shortcuts appto automatically open the photo album,and I linked the shortcutto the back tap feature inthe accessibility settings.So now, no matter where I am in iOS,I can misdirect the spectatorwith the pretty card while Idiscreetly double tap the backof my iPhone and the album opens for me.Or you know, if you're on a newer iPhone,you can use the actionbutton to run the shortcut,but I'm not that hip.Then I just play the slideshowand place the Charge Card on the screen.Ta-da!To tech-savvy folks,this trick will probably not fool you,but keep in mind, most of the worldis not very deep in thetech-savvy rabbit hole.So this could be a fun partytrick that actually fools them.Just remember to do it for funand not to try to sell a fake card.Also, this part surprised me.Another tidbit I learnedfrom the tutorial videois this magic trick wascreated by Michael Weber,who created Effects forfilms like \"Forrest Gump,\"\"Mission Impossible,\"and \"The Illusionist.\"I thought it was just madeby some random dude on the internet,but no, it's actuallymade by an industry expertwith lots of experience.And as a video guy myself, I respect that.In the end, none ofthe products are scams,but without the proper context,they can look a little suspicious,especially if you confusethis one with this one,or vice versa.Need... help.Need... DoorDash.DoorDash is good.Yeah.No.Oh, gotta charge up.Gotta charge up.Here you go.Wait.No.AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!By the way, if you want to fill up my boxwith other suggestionsfor potential scam buster investigations,drop me a line on the ComputerClan website and subscribeand stay tuned for moreepisodes coming soon.Until then, catch thecrazy and pass it on.(techno music)- It's over,Ken, you can get up now.- Go away. I'm dead.\n"