It might even seem like a legend, but it really happened. An American user purchased one GeForce RTX 4090 from NVIDIA on Facebook Marketplace only to realize that the card was not only damaged, but without the main components.
Especially in the United States, the used market in the IT sector is decidedly thriving and many are turning to the “second hand” to buy high-end components. In this period, it is especially the enthusiast-end GPUs that attract attention because many of the best custom models are difficult to find.
However, it is always good to be careful because, through the internet, scammers are able to reach a much larger pool of potential victims, as in this case. Everything seemed in order when the customer received his MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Ventus 3Xuntil he discovered it didn’t work.
Not bad, he thought at first, given the rather convenient price compared to the market price, even facing the cost of repairs it would still have been a bargain. So he took the card to a local repairman who, quite simply, explained to him that the card was “fried“.
Angered by the repairman’s diagnosis, the customer picked up his new video card and sent it to Northwest Repair getting an even more bitter surprise: there was nothing to repair, the video card had simply been stripped of the GPU and memory chips. In essence, he was simply sold the PCB with its heatsink.
It might seem like a more unique than rare case, but in reality it is a rather widespread phenomenon, especially in China. In fact, many retailers they remove chips from boards to install them on custom boards for AI platforms. The remaining components are usually resold in batches at inclusive prices between 10 and 20 dollars per unit.
Where PCBs, backplates or heatsinks would be an excellent source of low-cost spares, many dishonest retailers exploit these “waste” to defraud unfortunates by attracting them with particularly advantageous prices.
Naturally, in the case of online purchases, it is difficult to know in advance what will be delivered to us. In this regard we can only recommend always contact reliable sellers even when purchasing used material and, above all, to adopt secure payment methods that guarantee the customer against scams.
