The Nokia N95 is one of the coolest phones out there.  Unfortunately this means there are plenty of people willing to take advantage of you to make a few bucks.  Learn how to spot the fake N95's so that you don't get ripped off.  Because there are a lot of them.

Spec Differences:

• real N95 is 850/900/1800/1900, quad band.  fake is only 900/1800, which means that it almost surely won't work on your network in the U.S.  Some sellers know their phone is fake, and list the stats as 900/1800 only, but you should know that this is still a fake phone.  It will work as a phone on 900/1800 networks, but it is not a Nokia and does not have all the features the real N95 has.
  
• real N95 has 5 megapixel camera, fake one reportedly is only 2 or 3.
• real N95 has GPS feature, not sure but I've heard the fake one doesn't.
• real N95 comes with usb cable, TV-out cable, software CD, and headphone.  Fakes generally come with none of these.
  

• Touchscreen:  RED FLAG.  The real Nokia doesn't have a touchscreen.  The fake ones do.  You can tell that it is fake by the row of touchscreen icons at the bottom of the display.
• Buttons:  On the fake N95 the buttons are cheaper, but they also have different symbols on them.  If the buttons look like "Play/Pause" and "Stop," then RED FLAG.  On the real Nokia, it's some different symbols, like in the bottom example above.  A circular -shaped logo and a diamond-shaped logo.
  
• Box:  This may not be across the board, but the fake one that was sent to me came in what looked like a real Nokia box for a real Nokia N95, with a real Nokia barcode sticker on one end and a '1 Gb MicroSD card included' sticker on the top (that was not included, fyi.)  Just because the seller posted a picture of a Nokia box doesn't mean it has a real Nokia.  Also, the box that was sent to me was white with 12 squares on it, like below.  This doesn't mean that every phone that comes in that particular box is fake, but so far almost every fake one i have seen has come in one of those boxes.

• Back of the phone:  If you see a Hutchinson 3G logo, RED FLAG.
• Also you can spot a fake by the orientation of the Nokia logo.
• And the fake doesn't have a working lens cover switch.
• Real Nokias come in Plum and Sand for the colors on the back.  Not black.
  

            

• Fake Nokia phones only slide one way, up, to reveal the telephone keypad (left.)
• Real Nokia phones slide up as well, but also slide down to reveal media player control buttons (right.)

This does not mean that if you see a picture of a Nokia phone, sliding both ways, that you will get a real Nokia phone.  Of course, anyone can download photos like these and post them as their own.  Some sellers even steal legitimate-looking pictures from other current or completed listings to make you think you will get a real N95.  Of course, this also does not mean that just because a seller lists a stock picture of the phone or the white 12 square box that the phone is fake.  You have to use wise judgment.


So how can you protect yourself?

• Buy from a well-established phone seller.
• There are plenty of sellers on ebay that have sold plenty of phones.  Check the feedback.  If a seller has thousands of positive feedback, you are better off than buying from some guy somewhere who hasn't sold anything on ebay for 3 years and now suddenly is selling 10 N95 phones.
• See if the seller has received positive feedback for previous Nokia N95 phones.  If nobody has purchased a N95 phone from that particular seller, RED FLAG.  
• Lots of sellers know they are selling fake phones, but lots of them also don't know.  Plenty of sellers are dropshipping their phones from China or Hong Kong, believing that they are getting a good deal on real phones, and in turn turning a good profit.  Unfortunately, they are oblivious.  The phones they sell are fake, and they aren't going to get their money back from China.  So plenty of the unreturnable phones end up getting relisted under different accounts until the sellers can unload them and make their money back.
• Price.
• If the price sounds too good to be true, that's because it is.  Why would some low-level ebay seller (who has previously only sold baby food or something) be able to get a phone from wholesale for hundreds of dollars less than cell phone powersellers?  If you really could get a real N95 for 1 or 2 hundred bucks from a wholesaler, why would every single powerseller sell them for around $650? 
  
• If someone is selling lots of 5 or 10 or 20 phones, RED FLAG.  Most of these are fakes.  If they are selling the lot of phones for a too-good-to-be-true price per phone, you have to ask yourself why the seller isn't just selling the phones individually, because they are losing money selling them cheaper by the dozen.
  
• Protection.
• Protect yourself.  If you think you have found a great deal on ebay, but you are buying from someone without a lot of positive feedback (1000+) or previous N95 sales, you are taking a huge risk.  Paypal will cover you up to $2000 if you are buying from a powerseller with generally at least 100 positive feedback + at least 98% positive.  Less than those qualifications, and you are only covered up to $200.  Which is quite a risk on a $650 phone.  It will tell you the level of coverage on the auction page, on the right hand side, right below the section with the seller's ebay ID.  If the seller doesn't accept Paypal (or Bidpay, etc.) and either 1.) only corresponds through external emails, and not through ebay's messaging, or 2.) only accepts wire transfers, money orders, direct credit card numbers, non-ebay transactions, etc., then RED FLAG.  Of course, level of paypal coverage doesn't mean the phone listed is a real N95.  Of course, some reputable seller could be knowingly or unknowingly selling fake phones, but paypal coverage means you might have a better chance at getting your money back.

That's it for now, I hope you don't get scammed.  It really is quite a pain wading through all the fake phones on ebay trying to find the real ones.  Any feedback or comments or corrections to the guide, feel free to send me a message.  And thanks to nokiaphoneblog.com.