Today I spent a while fighting with a "black pill" STM32 board, which must be a clone. I can't get the thing in DFU mode and it has a weird HID bootloader and USB IDs: 0483:572A [WeAct Studio WeAct Studio HID Bootloader], but everything expects 1209:BEBA. 
I have now given up and ordered an ST-LINK programmer (very cheap, so also a clone 
) so hopefully I'll have more luck with that!