If you want to buy new graphics cards like a GeForce RTX 4090 from Nvidia, you have to pay a small fortune. A user has now discovered a fantastic deal, but it’s not as good as it seems.
Our title image is a symbolic image.
Nvidia introduced its latest graphics cards with the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090. However, they are very expensive: For an RTX 4090, you pay nearly 2,000 euros in retail. A user has now posted an offer on reddit, where he pays just 800 euros.
Many quickly recognize that as a scam and wonder how someone can fall for it. In our article, we present some warning signals and hints on what to look out for when buying on Amazon, eBay, and the like.
On reddit, a user posted the image and explained that a friend had bought the offer, but he believes it to be a scam. Directly, a user asks in the comments:
How can people fall for this crap? Tell your friend to give his parents back the credit card.
Is this a fake offer? If you look at the offer on reddit more closely, it quickly becomes clear that something is not right here. What provider would willingly sell an 1,800 euro graphics card for a fraction of the price and voluntarily forego 1,000 euros in revenue?
Also, the comments are quite clear that this “great” offer must clearly be a scam. Alone the font used (Times New Roman) is already a clear sign of an offer that you shouldn’t take.
Others have “more luck” when purchasing an RTX 4090: Because they not only receive a graphics card but also have a new job promised:
This is how you can easily see scams and fake offers
Basically, there are a few points you should pay attention to when you want to buy hardware or other things on Amazon, eBay, or well-known platforms. Because fake offers can usually be easily recognized if you know what to look for:
- The graphics card is very cheap or is offered much cheaper than the current market price.
- The seller offers other high-quality goods that look unrelated. For example, next to graphics cards, also fridges, treadmills and PS5 consoles.
- The account was inactive for a long time and has only recently become active again.
- The provider demands advance payment or payment by check or other dangerous payment methods.
- The seller tries to lure you away from Amazon and the like and to communicate with you via emails or WhatsApp. Because with that you lose the buyer protection of the large platforms.
The shop looks serious: Even seemingly serious accounts can be fundamentally dangerous. Because on Amazon, fraudsters like to hack into accounts with high reputation to misuse them for their purposes. The shop may have had many positive ratings in the past, but those have nothing to do with the seller anymore.
A correct imprint does not necessarily mean that a serious provider stands behind it. Here you can check the phone numbers for example and quickly notice when you land on a dead or wrong line.
Additionally: Never let yourself be pressured into an offer. If the seller tries to pressure you or claims that the sale must be done urgently or quickly, you should become skeptical.
“Dangerous” search queries: Another tip: Also keep an eye on Google or other search engines. Here, a scam offer can quickly sneak in between the “ads”. So best take a careful look when you’re outside of the big providers. How dangerous such Google ads can be, a well-known investor has recently found out.
Serious providers can also make mistakes: Not every very cheap offer means that a fraudster is behind it. Large companies like Amazon or MediaMarkt can also make mistakes, such as pricing errors.
Then a very low price appears on the page, which the provider can also withdraw. If the dealer notices the pricing error, he can contest the purchase contract due to an error. You will then get your money back, but not the very cheap product.
User buys top GPU for 300 euros – Community explains to him why he will never see the graphics card
