eBay charger adventures: Joke or scam?

Because modern smartphones are really battery eaters, you decide to look at eBay for a car charger, just to charge a bit your battery while driving with the hope to extend battery life at least until you get home.

About two weeks later, the charger arrives at your home and you connect it to your phone. The phone gets in charging state for a moment and that's all. Nothing more. Your voltmeter says the charger outputs 5 volts, and the charger says 5V , 500 mA, so what is the problem?

Then you decide to disassemble the charger just to see if there is a problem and this is what you see:

You get surprised when you find only three components, and you start thinking that small black component, with three legs can't be what you're thinking it is... but it is exactly what you think it is:

Joke or scam?

Fortunately, it could be worse.

Remember: Always check your cheap eBay charger before connecting them to your devices. Open it if necessary.