Question Did you buy counterfeit without knowing

[MJS WARLORD]

I decided to do this thread after seeing a guy ask how to spot a fake graphics card.
I will start the ball rolling by saying that many years ago when i was a pc noobie i went to a computer fair near me in a music venue and nearly got ripped off.
Complete computer systems at stupid prices and component's in plain cardboard boxes with just say gtx 900 wrote on them '
Even as a noobie it was obvious that their was a lot of dodgy stuff on sale.

Funny thing is i could have been an under cover trading standards guy because just by coincidence the venue way raided the following week.

Ok so back to the thread title.....

Have you ever unknowingly bought fake computer parts or anything to do with pc's , what happened and what did you do about it.

 

[4745454b]

Lol. I can guess what's on it.

I've bought a lot of used stuff in my time. But mostly for other computer geeks on other forums. A couple of gpus from eBay, but that was 20 years ago before all the shady stuff. Back then the only worry was getting a DOA. I see on this forum people do buy counterfeit parts. So i know it does happen.

 

[Lutfij]

Just as a friendly tap on the shoulder to this thread, that there's no mention of pirated app's or games or some such(bypassing security or fraudulent means) per our forum rules. Mentioning counterfeit parts and their adversities, on the hand, is acceptable across our forums.

Moderator
Lutfij

 

[MJS WARLORD]

ok Lutfij ..... i have removed ALL the references i made about games.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I cannot say I have ever knowingly bought something counterfeit, but I am constantly buying "too good to be true" deals.

Sometimes, you win, sometimes you lose, but as long as you have buyer protection you will get your money back anyhow.

If talking about graphics cards, some wins include:
GTX 1080 Blower, $175 including shipping on fb. Arrived in RTX 3070 box, worked perfectly.
RTX 2070 EVGA, $275 plus shipping from ebay. Worked perfectly.
Entire i5 6th gen+16gb+1th+RX480 pc for $200 off of facebook. Worked as expected.
Entire FX8350+16gb+2tb+GTX970 pc for $200 plus shipping off of ebay

Times I didn't win include:
$55 RX470 4gb Sapphire Nitro. Clearly ex mining. Worked fine for 30 min before black screening never to display anything again. Bought from ebay, got refund.
$50 R9 290. Only time I actually got scammed and didn't get refunded since it was cash in person deal.

I have considered buying a cheap scam GPU, one of the GTS450s flashed to 1060 or whatever, and trying to make it work. I might do that when I have more spare time.

 

[Joseph_138]

If you know what to look for, you'll never get sucked into those too good to be true Chinese video cards. Like, if someone is trying to sell you a GTX 970, with a VGA port, that should be a red flag. Becoming familiar with the different board layouts used for the card you are looking at helps, too. It's going to be hard for you to claim item not as described, if you can't tell customer service exactly why it is not as described.

 

[termathor]

Nice thread and good idea, here

Yep, bought one webcam 1-2 years ago.
Reputable shop in Switzerland. All marks were ticked on the box vs. my requirements. 200 CHF anyway. Never thought, as a french, I'd ever see counterfeit stuff in Switzerland. In France, yes, everywhere, but Switerland, WTF ?

Ah, yes, it was in a real, non online shop !

When I read the config instructions, I couldn't believe what I was reading:

• USB cable was only for power, so no config here (what is the cost of a USB controller ? 5 E ?)
• config guide:
• download an app for a smartphone (done by a chinese random manufacturer)
• configure wifi just for the app (why it couldn't use my smartphone one was not said)
• wifi key could only be between 5 chars and 12. No idea why. Of course it didn't fit neither my open Wifi nor my secure Wifi. Grrrrr.
• then after various pressing of buttons, the CAM would emit some sort of sound, yes morse style, then autoconfig would happen, using the phone mic as morse receiver. This type of nonsense could have made some in the 80s but in 2019 ?????

Needless to say, the sound stuff never worked. One hour after, everything went back into parcel.

I did some research and this manufacturer, called Swisstel was known nowhere, online.
And after looking again, I discovered the look and specs were entirely the same as some known reputable model, I think it was Arlo. From the pic, yes, exactly the same !

Yup, counterfeit !

Went to the shop saying it doesn't work and they gave my money back.
I also told them they're fake, but they never wanted to believe me. To date, this is probably still on the shelves.

Worst product I ever bought for 200 CHF !
Lesson learnt, not only Amazon marketplace sells counterfeit products.

EDIT: just after pressing "post", I felt the urge to go to this shop again (the online version this time), and no sign of this brand. But plenty of Arlo models there