I Ordered a FAKE Ryzen 5 3600 From Best Buy

[Beerzerker]

9 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

That title is completely misleading. LMG did NOT order a fake AMD CPU, someone else did and it just happened that Linus took pity and bought it off the victim (let's assume so, as Linus correctly states one option involves the victim as perpetrator.)

No it's not misleading.
And it's not about whether it's an AMD chip, it's about it NOT being what it was said to be by socket and chip model according to the listing for it - Namely an R5 3600.
 

[Dutch_Master]

1 minute ago, Beerzerker said:

No it's not misleading.
And it's not about whether it's an AMD chip, it's about it NOT being what it was said to be by socket and chip model according to the listing for it - Namely an R5 3600.

Dude, seriously? Have you actually seen the video, and listened to what Linus said? Or better, understood what he said? TL;DR: Linus clearly stated that he did NOT order that CPU from BestBuy, the victim did. He just bought it from the victim. That does NOT equate to "I ordered it myself" as the title implies. So yes, the title is misleading.

[Jacen Solo]

12 hours ago, SolarNova said:

Being that this thing was shipped 3rd party from US to Sri Lanka, and while ofc its not 'nice' to look down on other countries .. .. Sri Lanka is considered a 3rd world / developing country for a reason. i'd bet this was intercepted in Sri Lanka.

Being from Sri Lanka myself I don't think it's very likely that this was done here. Very few people build CPUs or have the knowhow to build CPUs since most people just buy laptops. Also lots of people ask family and friends living abroad to buy and ship items over since it's often cheaper than the ridiculous garbage local suppliers sell.

So most likely murzeus was a legitimate user who found a good deal from Best Buy for a CPU and got his brother to send it over. It wouldn't make sense for him to go through all that effort if he just wanted to save a 200 dollars. There are so many easier ways to make money scamming our remarkably tech illiterate population than delidding a CPU and getting a return.

Besides that would mean that he had an old Athlon lying about which is even more suspect since AMDs market share in Sri Lanka might as well be 0%. Even with Ryzen blowing up everyone still buys Intel and it used to be so much worse before Ryzen. Absolutely no one is going to be buying a second hand AMD CPU. So there's really very little profit murzeus could stand to make from it.

 

Unless he really was hurting for the 200 dollars and somehow had an old Athlon and had the knowledge to delid the IHS and had someone willing to buy a 2nd hand Ryzen processor off him, I see no reason to suspect him of doing this.

[MultiGamerClub]

13 hours ago, nmindz said:

I meant if it was the same kind of counterfeit CPU... an AM3 socket in a Ryzen box.

Why would anyone in their right mind order that?
unless they have 10 million subscribers ofcourse.

[NanoBob]

So something doesn't add up for me. If they take the IHS from a genuine 3600 in order to make the fake processor look convincing, what do they do with the actual (now IHS-less) 3600? Unless they came across a stash of 3600 IHS'es (Or do they somehow manfacture the 3600 IHS for the fake) they are turning an actual 3600 into a paperweight, in order to sell a convincing fake 3600. Where's the profit for the scammers? Or am I missing something?

[SolarNova]

4 hours ago, Jacen Solo said:

Being from Sri Lanka myself I don't think it's very likely that this was done here. Very few people build CPUs or have the knowhow to build CPUs since most people just buy laptops. Also lots of people ask family and friends living abroad to buy and ship items over since it's often cheaper than the ridiculous garbage local suppliers sell.

So most likely murzeus was a legitimate user who found a good deal from Best Buy for a CPU and got his brother to send it over. It wouldn't make sense for him to go through all that effort if he just wanted to save a 200 dollars. There are so many easier ways to make money scamming our remarkably tech illiterate population than delidding a CPU and getting a return.

Besides that would mean that he had an old Athlon lying about which is even more suspect since AMDs market share in Sri Lanka might as well be 0%. Even with Ryzen blowing up everyone still buys Intel and it used to be so much worse before Ryzen. Absolutely no one is going to be buying a second hand AMD CPU. So there's really very little profit murzeus could stand to make from it.

 

Unless he really was hurting for the 200 dollars and somehow had an old Athlon and had the knowledge to delid the IHS and had someone willing to buy a 2nd hand Ryzen processor off him, I see no reason to suspect him of doing this.

Ah ok ..well I wasnt necessarily saying HE did it, just that it was intercepted in Sri Lanka , ..but none the less your point is fair.

[Alexeygridnev1993]

By the way, did LTT reported the case to the police of the place where this CPU was bought? No matter if this crime was committed by one of the customers or a courrier or a shop assistant, it should not be too hard to identify precisely.

[Beerzerker]

On 5/16/2021 at 11:42 PM, Dutch_Master said:

Dude, seriously? Have you actually seen the video, and listened to what Linus said? Or better, understood what he said? TL;DR: Linus clearly stated that he did NOT order that CPU from BestBuy, the victim did. He just bought it from the victim. That does NOT equate to "I ordered it myself" as the title implies. So yes, the title is misleading.

I will agree the title could have been worded better.

Yes, I watched the vid.
Doesn't really matter who bought it, the entire point of the vid is there are fake CPU's out there with a scammer just waiting to sucker you with one.

If it's just the title, instead of the actual content that matters so much to you, so be it.
I'm not gonna nick-pick it over the title itself because it's the content of the vid that really matters.

[MadAnt250]

Something I posted in another thread of kinda the same thing: (I feel this fits well here)

 

"Most likely those were also returns that were not checked, or it could be someone from the warehouse/store swapping the products. The seal or sticker on these boxes can be easily removed with damaging the packaging, then once the item inside has been swapped the old sticker is put back or a new one is put there instead.

 

How? And how to kinda fix it? (Maybe)

One way to remove a label without leaving any marks is to warm it up with a heat gun, this will soften the glue and make it easy to peel of.

So what should be checked is if the label changes to the color black when warmed up with a heat gun, because if it does not, then this is a problem and might make the label reusable, which is bad. So using labels that change color would be one way of preventing someone from swapping the items inside and returning it (unless they have new labels to put on the box).

 

There is another way to kinda maybe fix these problems, and that is to use a wax seal with a special set of stamps."

 

Really I thought someone would have talked about this method by now, but I guess not.

 

 

[vong]

3 hours ago, MadAnt250 said:

Something I posted in another thread of kinda the same thing: (I feel this fits well here)

 

"Most likely those were also returns that were not checked, or it could be someone from the warehouse/store swapping the products. The seal or sticker on these boxes can be easily removed with damaging the packaging, then once the item inside has been swapped the old sticker is put back or a new one is put there instead.

 

How? And how to kinda fix it? (Maybe)

One way to remove a label without leaving any marks is to warm it up with a heat gun, this will soften the glue and make it easy to peel of.

So what should be checked is if the label changes to the color black when warmed up with a heat gun, because if it does not, then this is a problem and might make the label reusable, which is bad. So using labels that change color would be one way of preventing someone from swapping the items inside and returning it (unless they have new labels to put on the box).

 

There is another way to kinda maybe fix these problems, and that is to use a wax seal with a special set of stamps."

 

Really I thought someone would have talked about this method by now, but I guess not.

 

 

The problem with normal labels is committed frauders can print their own. They can use the 2 layered labels (that leave a message when the label is removed) which can deter people from doing this.

[MadAnt250]

On 5/19/2021 at 1:08 AM, vong said:

They can use the 2 layered labels (that leave a message when the label is removed) which can deter people from doing this.

That would definitely make things a bit more complex for the thief. They could figure it out, but it may not be worth their time.

[GodAtum]

On 5/17/2021 at 1:51 AM, papi69 said:

I think this is being done at the suppler level some how swapping out the original supply with counterfeit. This reminds me of a recent experience i had with buying alternators on Ebay , the first time i received a broken alternator and while i was waiting for the return i started an order with a different seller in a similar area (California) and i told them "the last alternator i bought from a different seller was doa , could you please confirm the alternators are tested as described in the description:" And they didnt reply they just cancelled my order. California is typically used as a distribution port for chinese sellers as most of the container ships dock in california. I suspect these alternators are coming untested from China, it's cheaper to send out untested alternators than it is to test them . 

Then there was another time when i ordered toliet paper on amazon and it was shipped from china, and what i received was mini toliet paper rolls , pictured it looks like normal TP. Totally misleading. 

Given that aliexpress fake gpus are coming from China, given that China is a common source of these scams , i suspect these fake processors is coming out of a Chinese factory , and at some point in the supply chain these are getting swapped out. I believe AMD is shipping processors out of China, so it could be a heist originating in China before the processors get on the plane. 

100% the problem is prob in China

[WhitetailAni]

14 minutes ago, GodAtum said:

100% the problem is prob in China

No. Just no.

There's many places it could happen. It wouldn't be too hard to buy a 5800X, take your old FX/Phenom CPU, delid them (hard but possible), swap the IHS's, and then put the FX with the 5800X IHS in the box, return it, and then take your 5800X with an FX IHS and use it.

[hax0r.ryan]

I received the third box for an Intel Core i5-9400 from Amazon today. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MGZ9FJZ/ Each time, there were two "NewItem" Amazon stickers on them, the Intel label with the serial number was torn open and the CPU and its plastic clam shell are missing. The useless heat sink and fan and instructions/warranty booklet/logo sticker are there, but no CPU! Three times in a row! Amazon issued a refund, but what is going on out there???