The topic of counterfeits has been covered extensively on the site… In fact, counterfeiters are using increasingly sophisticated methods to deceive consumers— such as the makers of these fake Samsung SSDs, for example. Nevertheless, we were tempted to think that shopping at brick-and-mortar stores would help us avoid counterfeits—but no! A Walmart customer purchased a Ryzen 7 9800X3D that turned out to be fake. Worse still, the store refuses to refund the customer.
A counterfeit Ryzen 7 9800X3D bought at Walmart?
A customer who won’t be reimbursed:
Basically, the customer wanted to build a high-performance gaming PC. To do so, he opted for an AMD X3D processor, the 9800X3D—a well-known model since it’s the worthy successor to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. However, after paying for and installing the CPU on his motherboard, it turned out that the PC wouldn’t boot—and that’s when things went south. When he went to the store for a refund, customer service told him that the processor’s serial number didn’t match the one printed on the box. As a result, it was a “no-go.”
A few differences from the original models:
Despite this, compared to the original model, a few minor details remain, particularly regarding the markings on the IHS. These markings are clearly misaligned and are positioned slightly too low and too far to the right. Next, the PCB color is clearly wrong—it’s blue on the counterfeit model, whereas it’s green on the original models. Finally, the placement of the capacitors and pads around the IHS is clearly off.
Unfortunately, for Walmart, refunding the customer also means taking the risk of being scammed. There’s no way for the retailer to prove that this isn’t a scam attempt by the customer, who may have swapped out the real CPU for a fake one. And in that case, unless the entire process—from the purchase, to returning home, to unboxing, and back to the store for a refund—is filmed, it’s difficult to prove.