Fake Intel CPUs are in circulation – Buyer Beware

Fake Intel CPUs are in circulation - Buyer Beware

Fake Intel CPUs are in circulation – Buyer Beware

Scammers are an unfortunate fact of life in today’s society, either hoping to pass off a sub-par product as something premium or selling merchandise under a false name to generate some additional income. 

Fake CPUs and Fake GPUs are relatively easy to find online, especially fake GPUs, but when these sub-standard products start to ship at high-profile retailers, it becomes a story that should have the industry at large concerned. If Amazon can send you a false product, it harms consumer trust in online retailers, which is something that shouldn’t be the case for a company that large and powerful. 

Last month, a report brought to light the that Amazon Spain sent a purchaser a fake Intel i9-9900K processor (Tweet here), a CPU that was, in fact, an Intel Core 2 Duo with a modified heat spreader, shipping with the markings and model numbers of Intel’s consumer flagship while lacking motherboard compatibility and any of the correct specifications. 
 
While the user thought that the scammer switched the IHS (Integrated Heat Spreaders) of the old and new processors, in actuality his fake i9-9900K is just a Core 2 Duo generation product with a modified heat spreader. No i9-9900K processors were dellided during the construction of this fake. 

How was this fake given to Amazon? Simple, the scammer likely purchased an i9-9900K, replace the processor with his faked CPU and returned the package to Amazon. Amazon employees, who probably know nothing about PC components, would look at the CPU and see that it says i9-9900K and think that the processor is the original. This fake product is then sold to a new customer, who pays full price for an unusable product. 

  

Fake Intel CPUs are in circulation - Buyer Beware  

This problem isn’t new for retailers. We reported back in 2015 about a similar issue with AMD products, with Athlon 64 X2 5200 processors masquerading as AMD’s newer FM2 series APUs. 

To address this problem, Amazon needs to take additional care when receiving returns for PC components, as who can consumers trust if they cannot rely on the world’s largest online retailer? 

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