A group of traders tried to deceive gamers by selling old graphics cards as new. Now they have been arrested by the police.
The high depreciation of cryptocurrencies led to thousands of miners in China desperately trying to sell their graphics cards .
A group of fraudsters took advantage of the situation and bought the used graphics cards from the miners to later resell them as “new.” They did this so skillfully that most buyers hardly noticed they had purchased a used graphics card.
Graphics cards worth around 2 million euros were found
Now the police in China have arrested 7 people who were selling such old graphics cards as brand new. As VideoCardz reports, a group in China had professionalized their business with old graphics cards, which they sold to people as new.
They were tracked down after a year-long investigation by the police in the Bincheng district of Binzhou city. The police found numerous mining cases without their graphics cards in a warehouse.
Only seven of the 22 people involved in the fraud were arrested and must now face court. The value of the counterfeit cards was estimated at over 2 million dollars.
Used graphics cards can be recognized with a keen eye
How can you recognize such a graphics card? The YouTuber Iskandar Souza has already provided a few tips. Pay attention to the discoloration of the memory on a purchased graphics card. If the graphics card has been used for a long time, the memory turns yellow. The YouTuber explains that the memory on new cards is black and then slowly discolors.
To hide this, miners blacken the graphics cards – this way they can conceal the yellowish tone of the memory. However, there are also other signs of a used graphics card:
- missing or discolored warranty stickers.
- missing or loose screws.
- Discoloration on the chip or memory of the graphics card.
Re-soldering memory onto a new board is a common practice in repairing and refurbishing graphics cards. In this case, the product is often labeled as “refurbished” rather than “new” in retail.
In Germany, used items must also be declared as used. Products such as graphics cards are only considered new if they have not been used, installed, and made from new materials.
Read more about the unfair tricks of miners in the following article:
