GoKawiilIt's a bad time to build a PC right now, given all the component shortages and political tensions that seemingly never leave sight of uncertainty. Bad times call for desperate measures, and that's precisely the window of opportunity that scammers are waiting to bank on. As such, reports of fake DDR5 memory circulating in Asian markets have begun to pop up, with some scammers replacing entire modules with counterfeit, hollow plastic chips. You can see the clever counterfeits by expanding the tweet below.
The post above from Japanese user TAKI shows laptop DDR5 memory (SODIMMs) with some of these fake chips. The sticker on the RAM says it's a Samsung stick, but the modules are clearly from SK Hynix. They also look a bit weird with the edges looking abnormally rounded off, exposing a white material around the perimeter. If you look closely, one of the ICs on the PCB is also knocked out of place, suggesting these components have been dropped on the board rather prematurely.
Looking closer at one of the DDR5 modules, it's clearly been shaved off; that explains the white perimeter. But there's nothing inside because these chips are just made of plastic or fiberglass with no circuitry inside. The second giveaway then becomes clear — since these are literally just bits of plastic, the SK Hynix part number markings are also fake, printed on top to make the RAM look convincing.
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These counterfeit memory kits are common on secondhand marketplaces, such as Mercari and Yahoo Auctions, and some are listed as broken. The description on one of these listings outlines a whole story about where these sticks come from, and that the buyer shouldn't purchase them expecting a functional product.
People looking to make a quick buck would pounce on such ads, or even worse, scammers would buy these lots to actually resell as working sticks to unsuspecting customers. And these are SODIMMs with no heatspreaders, so you can actually see the part numbers and likely make out the fact they're not authentic. For desktop memory that does come with heatsinks, you're basically out of luck until you actually test it.
The sellers peddling these fake DDR5 modules also accept no returns, which is common for "as is" purchases. Another possibility is that these sticks are coming from Amazon bait-and-switch scams where people buy an authentic product, swap it for a fake (or nothing at all), and return it, from where it ends up in a returns warehouse. It then gets picked up by a larger seller who might sort and sift through the lot to identify valuable items like RAM and put them up on the aftermarket.
Ultimately, the point remains that you should be extremely vigilant when buying used products, especially in times like these. If a deal is too good to be true, it most likely is. Purchase from reputable stores and vendors that accept returns or refunds, or at least those who'll exchange faulty items for you. While memory is the most price-hiked PC hardware category right now, similar scams run through GPUs and even CPUs.
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Make sure to tally any product numbers with authentic ones you find online and thoroughly test the components to ensure they work. The latter practice should be enough to spoof out any bad actors, but try to secure a warranty as well, just in case.
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