How to correctly reset a fake drive to its correct size? I used to have a tool(a GUI app) I came across on a forum I blv, I think it was made for SD cards at the time but do believe it also worked for harddrives as well iirc, it allowed me to edit things that the WinOS can't see, even under Linux it wasn't possible. No idea what it was called( I faintly recall just a few of the Chinese symbols and maybe a couple digits in the title). -Have you heard of this or used such? I think you should cover it in a video.. I should have a copy here but I have 25yrs of data hording, randomly fit onto drives as space was needed, many files corrupted, another great idea, how to properly restore data(i.e. repair data-streams/file-types, or have you covered it lately?.. I'm only as of late started folder naming, dating, and attempting to sort & properly store the data, but may be awhile before I find the items I want. Thnx in advance
@@josefmazzeo6628 If it's not actually launched it can be unlaunched. It's the opposite of these announcements of announcements of launches that we've been getting these last few years. Maybe that's why they do them so they have the opportunity to walk back the launch if needed.
Another tip: if you request a photo of the CPU, do a reverse image search of the picture they send. If it comes back with a source, you know they're trying to scam you.
Either that or they just cbf to play silly games with you. I always use google images when people request more images for things I have listed on local market places. Like, fuck, I'm way too lazy to take more pics for some random guy on craigslist who probably can't afford to buy anything until his next paycheck anyways. Just meet up at a local PC shop and either bring your computer with you, or pay the shop to test it. They will absolutely have no problem doing this, and don't charge much for it.
A couple minor corrections at 12:15. The S-Spec codes are alphanumeric, and there can be several codes for a particular CPU model. Engineering sample chips are 4-digits, production CPUs are 5-digits. The S-Spec gets changed if there is a revision of the silicon. For example: the i9-9900KF is SRFAA or SRG1A for production, and QRK0 or QRN6 for engineering samples. CPU-World is a great web resource for this.
There is another method of doing this: IHS swapping. They would buy, say a 12900K from a retailer and get a cheapo CPU like G6900 somewhere else, swap their IHSs, then return the G6900 as the 12900k, and profit from it. It happened as far back as 2014 in China on a retail site called JD. They changed their return policy after this and Intel was involved as well so I suspect that's when they added the validation check.
People do the same thing with GPUS on Amazon, switch coolers and stickers and return for profit. A couple years ago I bought a new GTX 980ti and it turned out to be a 970, gonna guess it was a restock on a scam return.
@@IronArmPanda Amazon will also block the hell out of you ever shopping with them again if you get caught. Guess you can use mommy's CC and address if the scammer has moved out. 😆
I used to do this to wal mart/best buy with 360s I couldn't fix the red ring on. Found a way to open without damaging the seal, and could reattach it easily
I suppose you wouldn't always have to return if you, as a scammer, wanted a i9 12900k but didn't care what was on the IHS - you could swap it with a G6900 and sell the fake 12900k with the swapped IHS - get a huge part of your cost covered by the scam... off to buy a couple of CPUs thanks for the idea ;)
I've seen videos on 'fake' AMD cpus, where they would delid a broken cpu (usually one with destroyed pins) and then attach the lid to a cheap cpu and sell it for a profit. Theres also a couple of other cases where they used really old or intel cpus with a ryzen cpu 'sticker' on top... including one "threadripper" that was made out of 4 old intel cpus shoved into a threadripper box and then returned to amazon.
That doesn't sound right. If it's broken and they're swapping it w the same CPU why would they need to swap the ihs if they're selling the broken one anyways. Plus anyone should be looking at the pins of a cou before purchasing...
@@RiceCrustyTreat 1) Buy cheap destroyed CPU (Athlon 2 or Phenom 2). 2) Buy a cheap CPU (Sempron). 3) Swap the IHS 4) Sell the Sempron with the Phenom 2 IHS, as a Phenom 2.
No you're not understanding him. He saying the scammer has a broken higher end cpu. They delid it to get the lid. Then they buy a cheap cpu from the same generation and swap the lid on the cheap cpu to sell it as if it is the high end one. This scam might also work with intel, but definately it has been done with ryzen. No pins will be bent on the cheap cpu so they can show you that easily.
I mean, this video probably made them away more than $460 usd and the video is actually entertaining, so, even if it was a double agent scam(lmao) everyone won, i guess
Can't wrap my head around buying a $500 CPU off a craigslist ad. If you're going to buy something that expensive, you may as well pay a bit more to buy it from a reputable place.
This type of scam has been around for a long time. Certain processors like AMD units are a lot easier as they are identical from the outside other than the markings. There are a lot of fake 5950x's and 9900k's out there.
I guess most people forgot the Pentium era of 1997. The CPUs were never multiplier locked. You put the CPU on the motherboard and you setup jumpers to select which clock speed you want for the motherboard and what multiplier you want for the CPU. For example, for a 100 MHz Pentium, you set the motherboard at 66.6 MHz. You set the multiplier at 1.5x. The CPU would be at 100 MHz. Some people found out that their 100 MHz Pentium was locking up the entire system once in a while. They measured the thickness of the CPU and found that it was 0.x mm thinner than normal. This is bc someone machined the surface off. They laser engraved 100 MHz and the rest of the info on it. The material of the CPU was some kind of ceramic.
I've seen a bunch of counterfeit AMD Ryzen 5 4000G series chips...enough that I will not buy them... The best chip of the 8 I tested was a Ryzen 5 3200G and the worse was a late model Athlon (I think it was a 6400) with Ryzen graphics... All were in builds people brought in...and the chips were at fault...
The tool you used in the video was to Identify Fake Intel CPUs (these are a thing entirely) as well as CPUs with BIOS that were modified (a problem in China where Celeron systems were being sold as i7 but appeared as i7 in windows). This is what the tool tests for.
@@moth.monster Yeah but there's a difference in brand certified and quality controlled Made in China and random named BangHappyPowGood company Made in China. Even the "good" stuff that comes from the same factories using the tooling bought for official runs is done with substandard components and materials behind the company's back.
@@zodwraith5745 Yea there are always two different production lines in China: -the one backed by big brands with quality control and high standards -then the knockoff ripoffs destined for alibaba and similar sites with no quality standards really at all, but they 'look like the real deal' so they know people will buy them even just to throw them away to go find the real one. Chinese knockoffs are all scams, you really have to do your research these days on sellers Though I find it interesting that the knockoffs all play by the rules when it comes to the actual branding, they do have a requirement that is cannot be exactly the same logo as the production brands
Remember folks, if a deal looks too good to be true, then maybe it is too good to be true. Double that if you're on a marketplace, and don't have a buyer's protection.
@Mr Liquid Devil This was probably close to a year ago and yeah, 500 would have been just enough to entice someone, but not immediately suspect trickery (smart scammer).
@@KevinLikesRTS it could but that’s pretty unlikely, even less likely than this. Same thing could happen if you buy anything “sealed” you could get a brick in a box.
By making this video AND all the amazing support from the great community, you will have made your money back. Always love these in depth videos GN does. Thank you for bringing these scams to light!
I remember my old Northwood CPU, looking at the SMDs on the back of it, those actually matched a EE CPU and not the generic 3.2 GHZ northwood. It also OCed just fine on water. 😁
Thanks for the interesting video. I just bought an Intel i7 12700K CPU and used your tip to see about warranty coverage using the serial # and Batch #. It's covered until February 12, 2026. Happy Days. 😉
Hey Gamers Nexus! Love your guys content and quality you put out. Out of curiosity is there any plans to make the pt2 of the, "What are ram timings?" You guys rock keep it up
FWIW, Buildzoid / Actually Hardcore Overclocking has a mini series on memory timings. Covers a bunch, but being a lazy git, doesn't go especially far down the stack. E2A: Playlist link ua-cam.com/play/PLpS0n7xxSadUJE1fEuWfEMGvmMsVYGAbA.html
Well ... Just got an i9-13900k from amazon ... turns out its an i7-13700k which has been IHS swapped ! Going through the amazon return procedure right now ... wish me luck !
$500 sounds like a lot, but I guess in a world where police don't even bother helping people get back stolen cars worth thousands of dollars, I guess that's just how our incredible system works. In any case, great coverage, very interesting and scary to see what is happening in the used market there. Thanks for helping us find good ways to verify the products! Although, like a lot of people were saying, they could perform an IHS swap which could mean they could post a photo of the genuine 12900KS before swapping the IHS. And even if they don't swap the IHS, they could still edit any photos they post. Definitely always best to purchase from a place that has buyer's protection.
I'm in the UK; many years ago I and a dozen others got scammed on ebay by the same seller who was selling junk AthlonXP CPUs. It took months to obtain refunds back via ebay/PayPal (I coordinated action among all the affected buyers), even with the direct help of AMD. It was complicated because the scam was perpetrated by someone in the UK but also others in Italy, ebay PM replies could come from either source. Alas the cops told me they normally don't bother to investigate online fraud the amount lost is more than 5000 UKP, so of course scammers have a different MO to get round this, namely to do the same scam involving a much smaller amount but applied to a large number of people, so overall the scammers can make many thousands, even tens of thousands, but no individual person is hit for a sum that will attract the cops. Also, I was told that investigations are especially unlikely to be conducted if any international connections are involved, because it's then so much more complicated and expensive, for obvious reasons. Ebay is riddled with this sort of thing, and back then showed little interest in even trying to put a stop to it, despite being able to use basic analytics to easily identify likely scammer accounts. I kept reporting scams to ebay, mainly long form scams (where a seller builds up a +ve reputation over time via bogus sales, then uses that image to conduct the main fraud), but little happened, except perhaps a shift in policy where decisions now do err much more toward the buyer in general, though this now leaves sellers vulnerable to scams aswell.
I really hope your coverage of this scam gets widespread quicker than these problematic scam potentials, really Gamers Nexus is keeping the market in check
I think GN got scammed too, was there a link to the original ad? I don't believe anyone who would pay $500 for a used 12900KS with cash. The used cash market always has a *huge* discount to the online used market because of the possibility of scams and inability to return products.
Maybe this purchase was back when the 12900 was new. Also people do dumb S#!+ all the time. So 🤷♀️. Either way they showed it was possible to do and it was clearly done, whether to GN or the original person so the video is justified either way.
I wonder how common the reverse type of scam is, where you buy a cheap item in cash, then buy a more expensive similar item on someplace like ebay, then lie and say you were scammed and got the cheaper item
😲😲THE SHELF OF UNUSED GPU'S!!!..... me and my 1080 ti are brimming with envy rn... I am currently trying to complete a budget build and was thinking of looking at second hand.. this makes me second guess that choice..
This is why for CPU's I ask to go to the sellers house and it in either the bios or via hardware info before handing any cash over. If they aren't willing to do that, no sale.
I feel almost privileged and blessed to not have to buy used PC parts. But I completely feel for the folks who do it to save a decent amount of money. It's just insane how elaborate scammers are now.
these scams are extremely rare unless you're willingly shopping for used parts on aliexpress, craigslist, etc, you won't get scammed Ebay protects it's buyers more than sellers. They will absolutely step in and destroy sellers who try to scam customers. Amazon is very laid back, but always check if the listing is fulfilled by amazon in which case amazon will supersede any authority from the seller and process returns automatically without the seller's input. Amazon warehouse are good used parts.
as someone who has lapped his 5950x, i can say it was a massive pain to get the dang thing taken off. lapping of course, requires you take all of the nickel off of the ihs however, the lettering was basically down to the copper
It's really cool of you guys to pay him the $500. If I was the guy I'd most likely be so infuriated that I'd try to get the thing to as many media outlets as possible out of spite to try to prevent the scammer from realising further gains.
On most used CPU scams they ship CPUs from different sockets that would never fit in the socket or be able to be installed. This is a same socket CPU and at a glance it's much harder to tell. With this unless you know firsthand what to look for you'll only realize it once you've installed it onto the system and saw task manager or the bios.
@@BBWahoo 12400. Hopefully it’s not worth counterfeiting, I’m trading up from a 12100f so I can ditch my GPU for a few months while I catch up on bills
That makes sense. You find some sellers selling 12400 13400 at very low prices claiming they are brand new but they don't have a receipt to show you and of course only on "tray" version
Tha website is useful to know about. I was expecting the scam to be where they delidded and swapped real Intel IHS between different SKUs and pass off an i3 as an i9 etc. The website would catch a discrepency between the PCB code and IHS code from a photo. I didn't think about them fabricating the text on the IHS itself.
Yup, I got screwed on my i9-9900KS which got killed by a Orico NVMe clone dock which fried my NVMe boot drive and then shorted my Z390 Aorus Master board AND the Northbridge on my i9-9900KS and Intel COULDN'T WARRANTY it because the people that got scammed had gotten theirs warrantied so there where NO more i9-9900KS CPUs to cover my legitimate chip. INTEL even made me contact MicroCenter and have the manager email Intel my invoice as me scanning or taking a picture of the receipt and chip wasn't good enough for them because there have been so many scams. Thanks for doing this video Steve. It doesn't help me but im sure it will help others
In this particular CPU, you can see the extreme wear marks on the hold down, but the printing is perfect, based on the amount of the wear on the hold down points there shouldn't be much left of the actual printing. Great job bringing this to light! 😁👍
If it's a reasonably smart, non-occasional scammer, he would have a real 12900k at hand to send photos of, so you're doomed without buyer protection / charge back capability. The seller demanding cash, cryptocurrency or prepaid store cards is the simple indicator for scams.
The sad thing is, a lot of these types of scams aren't even perpetrated by the seller! They are actually committed by buyers who buy legitimate products (like a real 12900K) and then swap the heat spreader and send it back for a refund, and the seller is non the wiser and ends up reselling it.
Any smart seller would be checking things they got as a return though... They should be checking it that it still works and also it is what it says... They shouldnt be just turning around and selling it without verifications... The place i worked at used to validate every return and/or used item prior to resale.
@@michaelhanson5773 they should but with the amount of returns and lack of manpower and low wagesc i don't think they have the time or motivation to inspect each and every returned item plus it's a cpu and it looks legit as hex. You wouldn't be able to tell it was a fake in even 100s of glances. You need to put it into motion, whole freaking cpu and detail check it. Ain't nobody got time for it unless the returns are not as much.
This has been happening for years in the UK, where they delid and put it on a crap part. Its been happening in 2nd hand shops, why some have got small test benches set up on the back to test them for this sort of thing
Doing that would create a pile of mislabeled 12900ks so unless they're keeping and using the CPU that would make no sense to do and lasering blank IHSs would be way cheaper
Important to note: buffing and relasering isn't the only way this is done. Sometimes they are delidded and new (or fake) IHSes are put on. It won't look shiny that way. This is more common with small-time scammers like you'll find in the used marketplace or on local listings, because the scammer can keep the high end CPU in a delidded (or relidded) configuration for themselves. They don't need lasering and any additional holographic devices on the IHS would be similarly defeated. It is also possible to get a fake IHS instead of using a real one. The best defense against this type of scam is asking for it to be plugged in, in person, and the second best is using the number checking as per 13:40.
There are some things in this world you should never buy used (unless from a close friend) and this is one of them. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. It's that simple. Thanks for sharing and stay well!
CPU's are one thing you can buy used. Just don't OC them. I bought a lot of CPU's for older Boards but they were all in the 30-100 USD Range. Never had big problems with them. Aftermarket Cooler and you are fine. The Problems are ATM Highend CPU's they get scammed as there is the money. But getting for an 6 year old Board a nice CPU no Problem as long as you OC them to hard. They run literally for Decades, the Boards die first.
The new text can be applied just like you do when making a PCB at home. You print a mirror image on transfer film or overhead projector sheets using a laser printer. You then use heat from something like a cloth's iron to transfer the image to the final position.
I got a Micron 9200 for around 800$~ 2 years ago, that was a hell of a deal, especially when 8tb NVME drives are still a rarity. You have to know where to look and who to buy from
That’s crazy I bought one from Best Buy brand new sealed in box. I7 13700k didn’t work. Eventually sent it to intel. They denied my warranty due marks being altered and modified.
I generally use a method of meeting the person and getting video of them and a vehicle. Also inspect the product on hand. Don't let them put it back in the box if you choose to buy it. Put it in yourself. People can palm swap items easily enough. If you have footage of their car and them it is easy enough to track them down and drag them into small claims court and get an ruling against them. Even if they are think showing up in rental or a friends car there are still solutions to that you subpoena the information from the comply or the so called friend and if they fail to comply its contempt of court. I tend to take pleasure if getting back at these types. You can get awarded punitive damages plus court costs in cases also. The court could also turn them over to LE criminal investigation as well. At the least consult an attorney in your area it might well be worth it. A consultation can usually be gotten fairly cheap.
IHS swapping has been a consistent problem for a while, but to see it happen in REAL LIFE, with REAL CASH MONEY exchanged, is something I was not expecting to see. It takes serious malfeasance to do something like that.
Look at the seller history when you buy from eBay. Counterfeiters will usually have a bunch of feedback farming (selling cheap things,) and then suddenly selling high priced items.
It is plain stupidity to buy something untested - otherwise one could buy a broken (non-working, but without visual damage) CPU and get scammed that way too.
I recently got scammed for a 1000EUR GPU recently, it was quite a dumb mistake, not checking if the photos were legitimate/copied over from different listings, not asking for a photo with date and name, etc. At least I learnt from it but the worst part is that my police hasn't even started an investigation of any kind, so that sucks.
It sounds like running the serial number through that warranty tool and checking against the substrate would be a great way to validate that you're receiving an authentic part, in an in-person exchange, without needing to take a whole test-bench to the coffee shop.
On the second hand market it at times can be tricky (talking about websites like Ebay) to be sure if it's a real deal or not (though, if it sounds too good to be true it usualy is). However, you can also run into 'scam' parts from official retailers. Some bigger shops aren't too keen or thorough with their return policies (checking the returned parts), they simply grab the part, and put it back on sale with a slight discount and market as used. What they failed to do, is check the product itself if it's realy the part it is supposed to be. Back with the first Ryzen launch (AM4 socket, obviously with pins on the processor, and not in the socket like LGA), people would buy the more expensive Ryzen (1700x if I recall), and return the part, but keeping the Ryzen and put a Celeron (pinless LGA CPU) in the box. CPU goes back to the shop and instantly back on sale, and the next buyer gets a Celeron LGA cpu instead of the 2nd hand Ryzen they were expecting. And with that, the risk that the new buyer gets marked as a scammer while he/she is the one that got scammed. Fake GPU's are usualy a bit easier to spot (not all unfortunatly), but a lot of fake GTX 1060's (which were flashed Fermi 450 or 550 cards) were easy to spot because of the VGA (sub-d) connector. The real 1060's didn't have those anymore. Recently saw some fake Radeon RX 580's, which were actualy just RX550 or RX560 's, those were harder to spot from just looking at the card. But comparing the specs, you'd notice that they were fake (less shaders / cores etc), problem is, you usualy must have the card in your possession to check with GPU-z.
I just bought a 11900k a couple of months ago and wish I knew this before. I did my research and thank the heavens i did not get scammed 200 dollars. Thanks for doing topics like this.
A friend of mine came to me, that I would help him with his fresh build. He bought an 14900KS and nothing worked. The ASUS-Mainboard that should be able to check if there is a problem with the cpu didn't even start the POST-Process. It made us believe, that the motherboard must be the problem. Even the ASUS Support headed in this direction. But it was the CPU... it looks exactly the same like the Celeron G6900 in your video from the bottom. The new variant of the scam might be simulating an defective mainboard. We had luck to have a second system to cross check.
Yeah there's a problem with buying it from Amazon another retailer's as well. They buy the legitimate ship but send back the fake ship which then gets sold via their warehouse option.
Find our recent i5-13400F CPU review over here! ua-cam.com/video/AdvWGEzYqg4/v-deo.html
I often wonder if AMD and INTEL create these scam secondary markets to scare people into buying the real thing at inflated new prices.
DO they have somthing like this for AMD? i would love to see if my CPU is real.
How to correctly reset a fake drive to its correct size? I used to have a tool(a GUI app) I came across on a forum I blv, I think it was made for SD cards at the time but do believe it also worked for harddrives as well iirc, it allowed me to edit things that the WinOS can't see, even under Linux it wasn't possible. No idea what it was called( I faintly recall just a few of the Chinese symbols and maybe a couple digits in the title). -Have you heard of this or used such? I think you should cover it in a video.. I should have a copy here but I have 25yrs of data hording, randomly fit onto drives as space was needed, many files corrupted, another great idea, how to properly restore data(i.e. repair data-streams/file-types, or have you covered it lately?.. I'm only as of late started folder naming, dating, and attempting to sort & properly store the data, but may be awhile before I find the items I want. Thnx in advance
You're a good man for just accepting the scam product from a viewer you probably made his year 500$ is not a small amount
thx for the tip will improve my counterfeits immediately
2022 - "Unlaunched" enters the vocabulary
2023 - "Unscammed" enters the vocabulary
Nice one Steve.
Thanks, Steve. Back to you, Steve.
Thank you Papa.......
Probably one of the few times in human history someone has been "unscammed" ...and still trying to figure out how you can unlaunch something.
@@josefmazzeo6628 If it's not actually launched it can be unlaunched. It's the opposite of these announcements of announcements of launches that we've been getting these last few years.
Maybe that's why they do them so they have the opportunity to walk back the launch if needed.
TWIST: there was no original scammer and the guy you paid $500 to is the actual scammer.
LOL
haha
Tantantannn 😮
OOF.
If this is the case then I gotta give it to him I do respect the hustle.
Another tip: if you request a photo of the CPU, do a reverse image search of the picture they send. If it comes back with a source, you know they're trying to scam you.
For almost anything you're buying online that's a good trick to know.
@@Jammermaker Though sometimes they are selling the real thing but just stole images because people are lazy.
"Wait a second... this source image is _my_ CPU... and _my house."_
Either that or they just cbf to play silly games with you. I always use google images when people request more images for things I have listed on local market places. Like, fuck, I'm way too lazy to take more pics for some random guy on craigslist who probably can't afford to buy anything until his next paycheck anyways.
Just meet up at a local PC shop and either bring your computer with you, or pay the shop to test it. They will absolutely have no problem doing this, and don't charge much for it.
VERY good idea. Wish I'd thought of that. Three thumbs up.
A couple minor corrections at 12:15. The S-Spec codes are alphanumeric, and there can be several codes for a particular CPU model. Engineering sample chips are 4-digits, production CPUs are 5-digits. The S-Spec gets changed if there is a revision of the silicon. For example: the i9-9900KF is SRFAA or SRG1A for production, and QRK0 or QRN6 for engineering samples.
CPU-World is a great web resource for this.
Glad intel was able to keep it simple
@@meatbleed to be fair, you the customer usually are more interested in the 9900KF part, and less in the SRFAA/SRG1A part.
There is another method of doing this: IHS swapping. They would buy, say a 12900K from a retailer and get a cheapo CPU like G6900 somewhere else, swap their IHSs, then return the G6900 as the 12900k, and profit from it. It happened as far back as 2014 in China on a retail site called JD. They changed their return policy after this and Intel was involved as well so I suspect that's when they added the validation check.
People do the same thing with GPUS on Amazon, switch coolers and stickers and return for profit. A couple years ago I bought a new GTX 980ti and it turned out to be a 970, gonna guess it was a restock on a scam return.
@@IronArmPanda Amazon will also block the hell out of you ever shopping with them again if you get caught. Guess you can use mommy's CC and address if the scammer has moved out. 😆
I believe that was also done with AMD cpus a while back as there was a Linus Tech Tips video about someone having that happen to them.
I used to do this to wal mart/best buy with 360s I couldn't fix the red ring on. Found a way to open without damaging the seal, and could reattach it easily
I suppose you wouldn't always have to return if you, as a scammer, wanted a i9 12900k but didn't care what was on the IHS - you could swap it with a G6900 and sell the fake 12900k with the swapped IHS - get a huge part of your cost covered by the scam... off to buy a couple of CPUs thanks for the idea ;)
I've seen videos on 'fake' AMD cpus, where they would delid a broken cpu (usually one with destroyed pins) and then attach the lid to a cheap cpu and sell it for a profit. Theres also a couple of other cases where they used really old or intel cpus with a ryzen cpu 'sticker' on top... including one "threadripper" that was made out of 4 old intel cpus shoved into a threadripper box and then returned to amazon.
That doesn't sound right. If it's broken and they're swapping it w the same CPU why would they need to swap the ihs if they're selling the broken one anyways. Plus anyone should be looking at the pins of a cou before purchasing...
@@RiceCrustyTreat 1) Buy cheap destroyed CPU (Athlon 2 or Phenom 2).
2) Buy a cheap CPU (Sempron).
3) Swap the IHS
4) Sell the Sempron with the Phenom 2 IHS, as a Phenom 2.
No you're not understanding him. He saying the scammer has a broken higher end cpu. They delid it to get the lid. Then they buy a cheap cpu from the same generation and swap the lid on the cheap cpu to sell it as if it is the high end one. This scam might also work with intel, but definately it has been done with ryzen. No pins will be bent on the cheap cpu so they can show you that easily.
GN just got scammed for $460 by a clever viewer.
More like we go scammed for watching.
I mean, this video probably made them away more than $460 usd and the video is actually entertaining, so, even if it was a double agent scam(lmao) everyone won, i guess
But it enriches all of us. That's more valuable if it stops people from scamming.
Love the Ditto cameo in the video about fakes.
A good sign that your CPU is fake; instead of your CPUs eyes looking like this 👀 they look like this °°
Can't wrap my head around buying a $500 CPU off a craigslist ad. If you're going to buy something that expensive, you may as well pay a bit more to buy it from a reputable place.
Thanks Steve, I love this type of reporting as it may save someone some grief. Like always, awesome job!
You can literally see it!
This type of scam has been around for a long time. Certain processors like AMD units are a lot easier as they are identical from the outside other than the markings. There are a lot of fake 5950x's and 9900k's out there.
I guess most people forgot the Pentium era of 1997. The CPUs were never multiplier locked. You put the CPU on the motherboard and you setup jumpers to select which clock speed you want for the motherboard and what multiplier you want for the CPU.
For example, for a 100 MHz Pentium, you set the motherboard at 66.6 MHz. You set the multiplier at 1.5x. The CPU would be at 100 MHz.
Some people found out that their 100 MHz Pentium was locking up the entire system once in a while. They measured the thickness of the CPU and found that it was 0.x mm thinner than normal.
This is bc someone machined the surface off. They laser engraved 100 MHz and the rest of the info on it.
The material of the CPU was some kind of ceramic.
@@louistournas120 Not laser graved CPU speed - the first Pentiums has even marked the speed with...a black pen, written manually speed on cpu :)
One time I saw a Reddit post where a dude got a Ryzen Sempron instead of a 3700x
Ooof
A 'Ryzen Sempron'? lol
I've seen a bunch of counterfeit AMD Ryzen 5 4000G series chips...enough that I will not buy them... The best chip of the 8 I tested was a Ryzen 5 3200G and the worse was a late model Athlon (I think it was a 6400) with Ryzen graphics... All were in builds people brought in...and the chips were at fault...
Oof
But did it fit in the motherboard
The tool you used in the video was to Identify Fake Intel CPUs (these are a thing entirely) as well as CPUs with BIOS that were modified (a problem in China where Celeron systems were being sold as i7 but appeared as i7 in windows). This is what the tool tests for.
This is the first reply that mentions these are all from China. Maybe don't buy your hardware from China?
@@zodwraith5745 nah, must have been the kids.
But seriously, it's going to get a whole lot worse in china because of the sanctions.
@@zodwraith5745 it's all made in China my dude
@@moth.monster Yeah but there's a difference in brand certified and quality controlled Made in China and random named BangHappyPowGood company Made in China.
Even the "good" stuff that comes from the same factories using the tooling bought for official runs is done with substandard components and materials behind the company's back.
@@zodwraith5745 Yea there are always two different production lines in China:
-the one backed by big brands with quality control and high standards
-then the knockoff ripoffs destined for alibaba and similar sites with no quality standards really at all, but they 'look like the real deal' so they know people will buy them even just to throw them away to go find the real one.
Chinese knockoffs are all scams, you really have to do your research these days on sellers
Though I find it interesting that the knockoffs all play by the rules when it comes to the actual branding, they do have a requirement that is cannot be exactly the same logo as the production brands
Massive props for buying the CPU from the scammed person for what he payed for it.
Remember folks, if a deal looks too good to be true, then maybe it is too good to be true. Double that if you're on a marketplace, and don't have a buyer's protection.
@Mr Liquid Devil This was probably close to a year ago and yeah, 500 would have been just enough to entice someone, but not immediately suspect trickery (smart scammer).
Thank you so much for showing this. I’m in the market for an upgrade and this is insane the world we live in :/
Yeah people out there really don't care about taking other's hard earned money
Always been this way, buyer beware
@@johnandrews9433 just sucks that it’s even a thing. Could come “new in box” and the scammer just reseals it. People have no conscience.
@@KevinLikesRTS it could but that’s pretty unlikely, even less likely than this. Same thing could happen if you buy anything “sealed” you could get a brick in a box.
if you measure the insanity of our planet with fake cpu's, then you live a pretty good life i'd say
Good video to have your brand sponsoring...and I AM looking at getting a new case.
By making this video AND all the amazing support from the great community, you will have made your money back. Always love these in depth videos GN does. Thank you for bringing these scams to light!
Why would an ancap care if someone was scammed lol
@Ryan Lenin fan ancaps dont scam people, it's bad for business!
@@ryanleninfan1337 And what forbids one from caring
@@ryanleninfan1337 Because he has morals maybe?
I would have assumed an IHS swap....good information, Steve!
I remember my old Northwood CPU, looking at the SMDs on the back of it, those actually matched a EE CPU and not the generic 3.2 GHZ northwood.
It also OCed just fine on water. 😁
Thanks for the interesting video. I just bought an Intel i7 12700K CPU and used your tip to see about warranty coverage using the serial # and Batch #. It's covered until February 12, 2026. Happy Days. 😉
Hey Gamers Nexus! Love your guys content and quality you put out. Out of curiosity is there any plans to make the pt2 of the, "What are ram timings?" You guys rock keep it up
Bump this up
bumping!
FWIW, Buildzoid / Actually Hardcore Overclocking has a mini series on memory timings. Covers a bunch, but being a lazy git, doesn't go especially far down the stack.
E2A: Playlist link ua-cam.com/play/PLpS0n7xxSadUJE1fEuWfEMGvmMsVYGAbA.html
@@ChrispyNut Oh sweet! Thanks for sharing that did not know he had that
Well ... Just got an i9-13900k from amazon ... turns out its an i7-13700k which has been IHS swapped !
Going through the amazon return procedure right now ... wish me luck !
i'm seeing a large number of 13900k's on ebay with pads placement that looks like 13700k. there are so many i'm starting to doubt they were fakes.
Gamers Nexus going around unscamming people, this is another level of badass.
He didn't seem all that excited about it though...
12900KS CPUs are right around $500 brand new. Why would someone pay $500 for a used one?
$500 sounds like a lot, but I guess in a world where police don't even bother helping people get back stolen cars worth thousands of dollars, I guess that's just how our incredible system works. In any case, great coverage, very interesting and scary to see what is happening in the used market there. Thanks for helping us find good ways to verify the products! Although, like a lot of people were saying, they could perform an IHS swap which could mean they could post a photo of the genuine 12900KS before swapping the IHS. And even if they don't swap the IHS, they could still edit any photos they post. Definitely always best to purchase from a place that has buyer's protection.
idk IRS cares about any $500 amount being moved now, maybe they could pass along frauds to law enforcement.
I'm in the UK; many years ago I and a dozen others got scammed on ebay by the same seller who was selling junk AthlonXP CPUs. It took months to obtain refunds back via ebay/PayPal (I coordinated action among all the affected buyers), even with the direct help of AMD. It was complicated because the scam was perpetrated by someone in the UK but also others in Italy, ebay PM replies could come from either source.
Alas the cops told me they normally don't bother to investigate online fraud the amount lost is more than 5000 UKP, so of course scammers have a different MO to get round this, namely to do the same scam involving a much smaller amount but applied to a large number of people, so overall the scammers can make many thousands, even tens of thousands, but no individual person is hit for a sum that will attract the cops. Also, I was told that investigations are especially unlikely to be conducted if any international connections are involved, because it's then so much more complicated and expensive, for obvious reasons.
Ebay is riddled with this sort of thing, and back then showed little interest in even trying to put a stop to it, despite being able to use basic analytics to easily identify likely scammer accounts. I kept reporting scams to ebay, mainly long form scams (where a seller builds up a +ve reputation over time via bogus sales, then uses that image to conduct the main fraud), but little happened, except perhaps a shift in policy where decisions now do err much more toward the buyer in general, though this now leaves sellers vulnerable to scams aswell.
I really hope your coverage of this scam gets widespread quicker than these problematic scam potentials, really Gamers Nexus is keeping the market in check
I think GN got scammed too, was there a link to the original ad? I don't believe anyone who would pay $500 for a used 12900KS with cash. The used cash market always has a *huge* discount to the online used market because of the possibility of scams and inability to return products.
Maybe this purchase was back when the 12900 was new.
Also people do dumb S#!+ all the time. So 🤷♀️. Either way they showed it was possible to do and it was clearly done, whether to GN or the original person so the video is justified either way.
Good on you for helping the fella who got scammed out. That can be devastating to a person without much build money.
Cool that Steve helped out! The best outcome really.
I wonder how common the reverse type of scam is, where you buy a cheap item in cash, then buy a more expensive similar item on someplace like ebay, then lie and say you were scammed and got the cheaper item
Damn thermaltake stepping it up thats a sick case
It's almost like they figured out that selling below average products for above average prices doesn't win customers
@@iamstd2 Almost
I thought it got a poor review, but maybe that was a similar looking case...
😲😲THE SHELF OF UNUSED GPU'S!!!..... me and my 1080 ti are brimming with envy rn... I am currently trying to complete a budget build and was thinking of looking at second hand.. this makes me second guess that choice..
Steve is the hero we all need. The man is a legend.
How did they print the lettering with such accuracy! Wow that's a lot of work, effort and time for a scam like that.
They probably just swapped the IHS with another CPU. Then they kept the better CPU. It was an upgrade with cash back.
This is why for CPU's I ask to go to the sellers house and it in either the bios or via hardware info before handing any cash over. If they aren't willing to do that, no sale.
Atta Gamers Nexus
Did more than you needed to, and helped someone who was injured by this.
Utmost respect
thank's for the info .. great work as always
wish you all the best in the rest
I feel almost privileged and blessed to not have to buy used PC parts. But I completely feel for the folks who do it to save a decent amount of money. It's just insane how elaborate scammers are now.
A pleasant surprise to see someone acknowledge those aspects. Thank you.
these scams are extremely rare
unless you're willingly shopping for used parts on aliexpress, craigslist, etc, you won't get scammed
Ebay protects it's buyers more than sellers. They will absolutely step in and destroy sellers who try to scam customers.
Amazon is very laid back, but always check if the listing is fulfilled by amazon in which case amazon will supersede any authority from the seller and process returns automatically without the seller's input. Amazon warehouse are good used parts.
as someone who has lapped his 5950x, i can say it was a massive pain to get the dang thing taken off. lapping of course, requires you take all of the nickel off of the ihs however, the lettering was basically down to the copper
Yeah, apparently with AMD, this was only done by swapping IHSes.
It's really cool of you guys to pay him the $500. If I was the guy I'd most likely be so infuriated that I'd try to get the thing to as many media outlets as possible out of spite to try to prevent the scammer from realising further gains.
I'm shocked they aren't doing that scam with AMD as the Athlon 950 sells for $12 and the 5800x3D is selling for $330 and both are AM4.
Actually that did happen a few times on eBay those sellers though usually get kicked off the site
You're giving them ideas!!
On most used CPU scams they ship CPUs from different sockets that would never fit in the socket or be able to be installed. This is a same socket CPU and at a glance it's much harder to tell. With this unless you know firsthand what to look for you'll only realize it once you've installed it onto the system and saw task manager or the bios.
I just seen a fake ryzen processor on fb market place. Glad you pushed out a video about this.
LTT did a story a few months ago about a similar swapped Ryzen CPU from Best Buy.
What was the fake processor?
Thanks I was not aware of this scam, Thanks for sharing the issue you have a new suscriber now
aw c'mon man, I just bought a CPU like two hours ago. Now I'm gonna have anxiety for a week until it comes in :p
What CPU was it?
@@BBWahoo 12400. Hopefully it’s not worth counterfeiting, I’m trading up from a 12100f so I can ditch my GPU for a few months while I catch up on bills
That makes sense. You find some sellers selling 12400 13400 at very low prices claiming they are brand new but they don't have a receipt to show you and of course only on "tray" version
Tha website is useful to know about. I was expecting the scam to be where they delidded and swapped real Intel IHS between different SKUs and pass off an i3 as an i9 etc. The website would catch a discrepency between the PCB code and IHS code from a photo. I didn't think about them fabricating the text on the IHS itself.
No kidding. That's some seriously low-hanging fruit right there.
Yup, I got screwed on my i9-9900KS which got killed by a Orico NVMe clone dock which fried my NVMe boot drive and then shorted my Z390 Aorus Master board AND the Northbridge on my i9-9900KS and Intel COULDN'T WARRANTY it because the people that got scammed had gotten theirs warrantied so there where NO more i9-9900KS CPUs to cover my legitimate chip. INTEL even made me contact MicroCenter and have the manager email Intel my invoice as me scanning or taking a picture of the receipt and chip wasn't good enough for them because there have been so many scams.
Thanks for doing this video Steve.
It doesn't help me but im sure it will help others
I like how informative this was. I have never purchased a used cpu before, and it's good to know tricks to be wary of. Thanks!
Wow. I've seen cpu's that had the identifying label scrubbed off, but none with the identifier reprinted on it.
Sad to see this kind of shit exists.
In this particular CPU, you can see the extreme wear marks on the hold down, but the printing is perfect, based on the amount of the wear on the hold down points there shouldn't be much left of the actual printing. Great job bringing this to light! 😁👍
One of the risks associated with buying used, especially if you can’t inspect prior to purchase.
If it's a reasonably smart, non-occasional scammer, he would have a real 12900k at hand to send photos of, so you're doomed without buyer protection / charge back capability.
The seller demanding cash, cryptocurrency or prepaid store cards is the simple indicator for scams.
The sad thing is, a lot of these types of scams aren't even perpetrated by the seller! They are actually committed by buyers who buy legitimate products (like a real 12900K) and then swap the heat spreader and send it back for a refund, and the seller is non the wiser and ends up reselling it.
That's only if the seller doesn't check. In games it will be VERY OBVIOUS
Any smart seller would be checking things they got as a return though... They should be checking it that it still works and also it is what it says... They shouldnt be just turning around and selling it without verifications... The place i worked at used to validate every return and/or used item prior to resale.
@@michaelhanson5773 they should but with the amount of returns and lack of manpower and low wagesc i don't think they have the time or motivation to inspect each and every returned item plus it's a cpu and it looks legit as hex. You wouldn't be able to tell it was a fake in even 100s of glances. You need to put it into motion, whole freaking cpu and detail check it. Ain't nobody got time for it unless the returns are not as much.
This has been happening for years in the UK, where they delid and put it on a crap part.
Its been happening in 2nd hand shops, why some have got small test benches set up on the back to test them for this sort of thing
couldn't the scammer have delid'ed a celeron and a 12900ks and swap the heat spreader?
Doing that would create a pile of mislabeled 12900ks so unless they're keeping and using the CPU that would make no sense to do and lasering blank IHSs would be way cheaper
@@hyperstimmed of course they kept the better chip. They just got cash back on their upgrade.
Important to note: buffing and relasering isn't the only way this is done. Sometimes they are delidded and new (or fake) IHSes are put on. It won't look shiny that way. This is more common with small-time scammers like you'll find in the used marketplace or on local listings, because the scammer can keep the high end CPU in a delidded (or relidded) configuration for themselves. They don't need lasering and any additional holographic devices on the IHS would be similarly defeated. It is also possible to get a fake IHS instead of using a real one. The best defense against this type of scam is asking for it to be plugged in, in person, and the second best is using the number checking as per 13:40.
Computer Jesus, doing gods work, what a legend!
Police probably won't brother to investigate it until they have similar scams from the same area or the scam value went over 1000...
There are some things in this world you should never buy used (unless from a close friend) and this is one of them. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. It's that simple.
Thanks for sharing and stay well!
CPU's are one thing you can buy used. Just don't OC them. I bought a lot of CPU's for older Boards but they were all in the 30-100 USD Range. Never had big problems with them. Aftermarket Cooler and you are fine. The Problems are ATM Highend CPU's they get scammed as there is the money. But getting for an 6 year old Board a nice CPU no Problem as long as you OC them to hard. They run literally for Decades, the Boards die first.
You can get huge discounts on older cpus though if its all you need.
Great video. Asianometry have an interesting example how this impacts the defence industry 'the fake chip scourge'
I remember when Linus did a video on a fake ryzen 5 3600 but that was sold through best buy or newegg or something like that...
Yep ... From Best Buy!? 😆
ua-cam.com/video/D_Q_6V10mTU/v-deo.html
The new text can be applied just like you do when making a PCB at home. You print a mirror image on transfer film or overhead projector sheets using a laser printer. You then use heat from something like a cloth's iron to transfer the image to the final position.
Add this to the list of why I don’t buy pre-owned PC parts.
I got a Micron 9200 for around 800$~ 2 years ago, that was a hell of a deal, especially when 8tb NVME drives are still a rarity. You have to know where to look and who to buy from
@@BBWahoo it’s still a crapshoot. I’m not a gambling man, so I’ll stick to buying new (only exception is when if you know the person).
TIL that people buy used 12900s in dark alleys in-person for cash.
Avoid Intel scams, buy a different brand.
That’s crazy I bought one from Best Buy brand new sealed in box. I7 13700k didn’t work. Eventually sent it to intel. They denied my warranty due marks being altered and modified.
I generally use a method of meeting the person and getting video of them and a vehicle. Also inspect the product on hand. Don't let them put it back in the box if you choose to buy it. Put it in yourself. People can palm swap items easily enough. If you have footage of their car and them it is easy enough to track them down and drag them into small claims court and get an ruling against them. Even if they are think showing up in rental or a friends car there are still solutions to that you subpoena the information from the comply or the so called friend and if they fail to comply its contempt of court.
I tend to take pleasure if getting back at these types. You can get awarded punitive damages plus court costs in cases also. The court could also turn them over to LE criminal investigation as well.
At the least consult an attorney in your area it might well be worth it. A consultation can usually be gotten fairly cheap.
IHS swapping has been a consistent problem for a while, but to see it happen in REAL LIFE, with REAL CASH MONEY exchanged, is something I was not expecting to see. It takes serious malfeasance to do something like that.
Look at the seller history when you buy from eBay. Counterfeiters will usually have a bunch of feedback farming (selling cheap things,) and then suddenly selling high priced items.
You made me look over and grab my new 13900KS and make sure. Almost gave me a heart attack.
It is plain stupidity to buy something untested - otherwise one could buy a broken (non-working, but without visual damage) CPU and get scammed that way too.
I won't be shocked when some of these start selling on amazon and good luck getting them to help
I recently got scammed for a 1000EUR GPU recently, it was quite a dumb mistake, not checking if the photos were legitimate/copied over from different listings, not asking for a photo with date and name, etc. At least I learnt from it but the worst part is that my police hasn't even started an investigation of any kind, so that sucks.
Top bloke helping the scammed, respect.
This was a popular scam a while ago when delidding Intel CPUs was a huge thing to do.
Thank you for your guys' service
Kudos to GN for "un-scamming" the victim, and doing this video to educate the community.
It sounds like running the serial number through that warranty tool and checking against the substrate would be a great way to validate that you're receiving an authentic part, in an in-person exchange, without needing to take a whole test-bench to the coffee shop.
Good on you for helping the guy out. Subbed.
Great video !
Really enjoyed the step by step.
On the second hand market it at times can be tricky (talking about websites like Ebay) to be sure if it's a real deal or not (though, if it sounds too good to be true it usualy is). However, you can also run into 'scam' parts from official retailers. Some bigger shops aren't too keen or thorough with their return policies (checking the returned parts), they simply grab the part, and put it back on sale with a slight discount and market as used. What they failed to do, is check the product itself if it's realy the part it is supposed to be. Back with the first Ryzen launch (AM4 socket, obviously with pins on the processor, and not in the socket like LGA), people would buy the more expensive Ryzen (1700x if I recall), and return the part, but keeping the Ryzen and put a Celeron (pinless LGA CPU) in the box. CPU goes back to the shop and instantly back on sale, and the next buyer gets a Celeron LGA cpu instead of the 2nd hand Ryzen they were expecting. And with that, the risk that the new buyer gets marked as a scammer while he/she is the one that got scammed.
Fake GPU's are usualy a bit easier to spot (not all unfortunatly), but a lot of fake GTX 1060's (which were flashed Fermi 450 or 550 cards) were easy to spot because of the VGA (sub-d) connector. The real 1060's didn't have those anymore. Recently saw some fake Radeon RX 580's, which were actualy just RX550 or RX560 's, those were harder to spot from just looking at the card. But comparing the specs, you'd notice that they were fake (less shaders / cores etc), problem is, you usualy must have the card in your possession to check with GPU-z.
dang, didn't even knew this is a thing! thanks for talking about it
Great job good investigating it sad to see this . There is to many people out there like that .
Did you guys upgrade your cameras? Very clean video
I just bought a 11900k a couple of months ago and wish I knew this before. I did my research and thank the heavens i did not get scammed 200 dollars. Thanks for doing topics like this.
A friend of mine came to me, that I would help him with his fresh build. He bought an 14900KS and nothing worked. The ASUS-Mainboard that should be able to check if there is a problem with the cpu didn't even start the POST-Process. It made us believe, that the motherboard must be the problem. Even the ASUS Support headed in this direction. But it was the CPU... it looks exactly the same like the Celeron G6900 in your video from the bottom. The new variant of the scam might be simulating an defective mainboard. We had luck to have a second system to cross check.
I think the images are swapped between the real and fake @12:40
Yeah there's a problem with buying it from Amazon another retailer's as well. They buy the legitimate ship but send back the fake ship which then gets sold via their warehouse option.
LOL now someone will make a fake AMD CPU just to sell it to you.
Always a pleasure to watch your reports. Thanks a lot!
Great Video!!! Happy you helped that scammed guy(or did he scam you??? 😆😳🤯)
Nice of you to help the guy who lost money on it out.
The lighting on the set is sooo much better now
Holy crap, been a bit since I've watched, the studio looks so different!
@gammersnexus that's great of you guys helping the viewer out.