Tuesday, September 3rd 2024
Fake AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Processors used to Scam Buyers in the P2P Market
A PC enthusiast in Romania bagged a good deal on a used AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor they found on OLX, an P2P and B2B online marketplace. Only, this wasn't a 7800X3D. In fact, it wasn't even a processor—a complete paperweight. While you can't return stuff you found on OLX, for deals executed through the platform, there are fraud protection measures that can withhold funds to the seller. Unfortunately, as most P2P deals on platforms such as OLX or even eBay, the buyer and seller tend to negotiate a lower price to cut out the platform costs, and transact privately. This is how the enthusiast ended up with the dud. Der8auer discovered this, and offered to buy the processor from him.
Der8auer installed the processor and turned on the machine, and of course it wouldn't POST. So this isn't a case of a cheaper (but functional) processor being mislabeled and sold at a higher price. Der8auer then proceeded to de-lid the processor (remove its integrated heat spreader) to discover that it's a complete fake. There's not a shred of silicon under it. The IHS is designed to mimic the shape of the cIOD and CCD. Der8auer provided some quick tips on how to spot a fake: start with the substrate's solder-mask color—it should be green. The SMDs should have a thin sealant, which protect them in machines with extreme cooling solutions that can have condensation. The substrate itself is thin (under 1 mm), whereas the real chip has about 1.3 mm in substrate thickness. Lastly, look for font and alignment errors on the chip label, on the IHS itself. Be careful when looking for 7800X3D processors in the P2P market, ensure you either have a platform that can refund you, or use a mode of payment that can (such as Paypal). Find Der8auer's video in the source link below.
Sources:
Der8auer (YouTube), VideoCardz
Der8auer installed the processor and turned on the machine, and of course it wouldn't POST. So this isn't a case of a cheaper (but functional) processor being mislabeled and sold at a higher price. Der8auer then proceeded to de-lid the processor (remove its integrated heat spreader) to discover that it's a complete fake. There's not a shred of silicon under it. The IHS is designed to mimic the shape of the cIOD and CCD. Der8auer provided some quick tips on how to spot a fake: start with the substrate's solder-mask color—it should be green. The SMDs should have a thin sealant, which protect them in machines with extreme cooling solutions that can have condensation. The substrate itself is thin (under 1 mm), whereas the real chip has about 1.3 mm in substrate thickness. Lastly, look for font and alignment errors on the chip label, on the IHS itself. Be careful when looking for 7800X3D processors in the P2P market, ensure you either have a platform that can refund you, or use a mode of payment that can (such as Paypal). Find Der8auer's video in the source link below.
26 Comments on Fake AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Processors used to Scam Buyers in the P2P Market
/s
Anyway if I was the scammer I'd feel salty I didn't sell it directly to der8auer for 400.
To be clear, this is also how other companies function. Except maybe they also have other ways of extracting money from their curstomers.
But anyway, the story looks very fishy to me as far as I could find from the details in different articles, which admittedly could miss a lot of nuance. Does der8auer buy non-functional components all the time from random people who were scammed? Because until he opened it up this was just a broken CPU. Thousands of fake or broken parts gets sold on classifieds sites or actual retail channels every day. What made der8auer come to the rescue this time? When I get scammed on eBay or Amazon can I just get der8auer to bail me out? Or only if it looks like a good promo opportunity? As I said, a bit fishy in my eyes (nose).
Here we have a local market platform like a small amazon (with login accounts) where you can buy online new hardware from online or physical stores. Not just hardware but many different products.
Less than a year ago there is a new section for used parts that users can sell. Sold my old 5700XT 6 months ago. When someone wanted it, I packed it, and a courier came and received it.
The "buyer" received it, test it and decided to keep it. Then I got my money to my bank account. Until then the payment was on hold by the platform. The buyer has the option to not keep the used product for whatever reason within 2 days.
This is how used marketplace should always work.
I understand that this is not as easy when the market is international, so I'm staying clear of those.This is not the first time I hear this.
GemersNexus a year ago bought fried CPUs and boards during the AM5 SoC fiasco to "investigate" what was happening. While AMD was RMA-ing CPUs, board vendors did not...
I literally do not care if a YT-er makes money on those videos from the platform as long as the video is informative, it has some value to me.
A lot of crap videos on YT that claim to inform you but turned out to be huge waste of time.
I've narrowed down to handful of YT channels (about tech, hardware, physics, astrophysics) over the years and from those I see only those that interest me. Not every video.
Der8auer and Gamer'sNexus is a couple of those.
Personally, I tried to register for Heatware once, but doing that and linking my other accounts to it was so damn clumsy that I gave up on it. It might have improved since then, I don't know.
I have to appreciate the craftsmanship of this fake, some thought and effort went into it.
As for OLX: Where i live, in the very beginning, it didn't even require registration. And what is the first thing people do when they get something for free and without strict control? They abuse the hell out of it and scam each other. It still is known as a place to sell or buy stolen or counterfeit goods. I'm not joking, when someone snatched a phone from my wife's hand, I found it on OLX within hours. There is no real protection for sellers or buyers, despite their claims. It's a negative trust place fitting for a negative trust society.
I miss the times of escrow protection... but scammers destroyed even that.
This story of him randomly purchasing a defective CPU with such a trivial and common backstory (person scammed with defective product from the classifieds, film at 11) and realizing it's one of the most sophisticated and impractical scamming schemes around from effort and cost perspective is either a one in a billion shot, or something suspiciously similar to a PR stunt. Absent any corroboration from anyone but the beneficiary of the PR himself, my money is on the latter.
I'm not telling you what to watch and who to listen to. And I actually count on good content creators making good money so they can keep creating good content. But if I can't trust their content today, I definitely won't trust it tomorrow.