GeForce RTX 4090 sold without a GPU
A HKEPC media reader fell victim to a scam that resulted in substantial financial loss. The buyer was deceived into purchasing a counterfeit RTX 4090 graphics card on a second-hand market.
According to HKEPC’s coverage, a new scam has emerged in the second-hand market, resulting in one of the buyers losing $13,000 HK ($1660 USD) due to the purchase of a fake RTX 4090 graphics card. Despite the card appearing visually convincing and being priced reasonably, it raised no suspicions initially.
The scammers went to great lengths to trick the buyer, presenting original photos of the card with illuminated light effects. Ironically, this feature was the only aspect of the GPU that functioned properly, as the fans remained silent.
RTX4090 without GPU, Source: HKEPC
Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the issue extended beyond non-functioning fans—the card lacked a GPU altogether. Essentially, the buyer received a product without a functioning processor, consisting only of a PCB and a cooler. It looks like some memory modules were left, but others were stuck to thermal pads, probably not a good sign either.
Regrettably, the police declined to pursue the case, leaving the buyer without aid for recovering the lost funds. HKEPC’s report serves as a warning about this emerging scam, acknowledging the difficulty in preventing such incidents. The card was probably one of the GPUs that served as donor for blower type RTX 4090 cards that are sold in bulk to AI farms in China. We mentioned this in the previous post.
Buying a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card in Asia may now pose a challenge, particularly for gamers in countries impacted by U.S. export restrictions. Those who live in countries affected by U.S. export restrictions on RTX4090 should probably wait for the arrival of RTX 4090D and RTX 4080 SUPER to those markets.
Source: HKEPC
