Scams surrounding NVIDIA's high-end GPUs, such as the RTX 4090, have apparently plagued the second-hand markets, and now, more cases have emerged, particularly from China.
NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090 Becomes a Victim of Widespread Scams By Individuals Hoping To Cash On The Massive Demand
The GPU industry is experiencing a massive shortage of high-end GPUs, notably due to supply chain gaps, which has created the perfect opportunity for scammers to take advantage of the situation that is apparently happening worldwide. According to MyDrivers, there have been two cases in China where buyers were sold off a "fake" GeForce RTX 4090, that too, at rather outrageous prices, which shows that such cases are difficult to identify unless you are an expert, but still, falling into such scams has become pretty common in recent days.
In one of the cases, a user bought an NVIDIA RTX 4090 for 3,800 yuan or around $520, and what seemed like a bargain deal turned out to be a disaster. Upon physical inspection, the GPU seemed pretty legit, with all the warranty labels intact and the packaging spot-on, so the buyer thought everything was perfect. However, when the GPU was opened up, it was revealed that the GPU chip was much smaller than the standard size, and the scammer had printed the "AD102-301" marking on the chip to make it seem like the actual one.
Not only this, but the RTX 4090 PCB apparently had fake memory modules polished out to seem new. The modules didn't have any printing on them, which revealed that they were bogus. Interestingly, the report claims that fake GPU and memory chips are being sold in Chinese marketplaces openly, with memory modules available for as little as three yuan and GPU chips at 100 yuan. Overall, it is inferred that with the above deal, the scammer made a profit of over 3,700 yuan.
The second case is a more shocking one. A buyer gets NVIDIA's RTX 4090 for 7,000 yuan,or around $1,000, and the GPU's appearance is so legit that the buyer doesn't feel he is being scammed. However, when he later opens the GPU, it is completely empty, with no GPU or memory chips inside, which is indeed disappointing to witness. The buyer has already contacted the seller to confront him, and we await a conclusion.
The important point to note here is that such scams aren't confined to markets in China; they can occur anywhere. Given that consumers are eager to get their hands on high-end GPUs, scammers can take advantage of this. If you are looking to acquire a second-hand GPU, make sure to properly test it out in any rig or even open it up in front of the seller to ensure that there are components inside.
