Just yesterday we posted about Linus Tech Tips review of the Flipper Zero. In related recent news, Flipper Zero was also banned from Amazon for being a "card skimming device". While the Flipper Zero reading the public NFC data from credit cards, it doesn't seem like it could do much more than what an Android phone could do with an NFC credit card reader app. Anyone skimming credit cards would still require the CVV code and other address details in order to put through a transaction.

This comes along from a bad string of events that has hit the Flipper Zero team. A while back PayPal froze 1.3M of it's cash, requiring them to retain lawyers to force PayPal to partially release the funds. US customs then proceeded to seize it's US bound shipment for inspection, then to throw salt in the wound, after releasing the goods they were billed $70,000 in storage fees for the pleasure of requiring inspection.

There are also reports of eBay banning the sale of Flipper Zero devices citing 'hacking' devices not being allowed on their platform.

The Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency has also begun seizing imports of Flipper Zero devices.

Flipper Zero is an affordable handheld RF device for pentesters and hackers. It is not based on SDR technology, however it uses a CC1101 chip, a digitally controlled RX/TX radio that is capable of demodulating and modulating many common digital modulations such as OOK/ASK/FSK/GFSK/MSK at frequencies below 1 GHz. 

The CC1101 chip has been around since 2007, and there are many similar devices making use of the chip. However, the Flipper Zero is specifically marketed as a pentesting and hacking device, and provides built in software for doing things like replay attacks. 

Part of the problem with the bans may also be the huge popularity that the device has received. The device has become exceedingly popular on social media sites like TikTok where users often show it being used mischievously.

Flipper Zero remains available for sale on it's website flipperzero.one, for US$169.