Intel processors – I’m sure we’re all well-versed with their processor naming scheme and what type of performance they pack. However, just like any other products that got famous, they’re bound to have counterfeits. Counterfeits of a famous product like iPhones, MacBooks, and even Intel processors are the easiest to earn some dirty money. Though, the process to counterfeit Intel processor is a little weird.

We first came across a post that was shared, credited to the overclocker ZERO_DAN.

From what we can find, the overclocker ZERO_DAN did not share what’s inside the box. Presumably it’s a fake, since the fonts and general cardboard quality of the counterfeit i7-8700K is… exquisite, to say the least.

In the comments section of this post, we have a follower who shared us a link to Reddit. In this post by /u/TheDivineHate, he described that his purchase of the Intel Core i7-8700K from Amazon turned out to be a fake. He even attached a really high-resolution image on how the counterfeit Intel processor looks like.

It’s interesting to see how far these scammers will go and the scheme they employ. This time around for the counterfeit Intel processors, they stick a fake label on top. It can be clearly seen that the sticker writes Intel i7-8700K, but after peeling the sticker, it writes Intel Celeron D 336 – a decade-old single-core processor with 2.80GHz.

These types of “switcheroo and repackage” scams are actually quite rampant for online shopping. There’s also another scheme where scammers delid two CPUs and swap the IHS and get a refund for the higher-priced CPU. It happened to the latest 8th Gen Intel Core series of processors too.

How to avoid getting scammed

It’s quite difficult to say for sure. Firstly, our partner who talked about Lazada scamming schemes before. Most of those points there are applicable here – if the deal is too good to be true, then it probably is – unless it’s the official or authorized seller.

That’s why brick and mortar shops aren’t going to go anywhere – you can have the shopkeeper opening it up first and test it out before you pay them. Pre-built systems and PC builder services can be used to avoid these issues from getting to the end users like you and me. Will definitely save us from getting a world’s worth of headache if this sort of issues ever happen.

Though, the Reddit user /u/TheDivineHate can file a complaint through Amazon and have their fantastic customer support solve it for them. This is totally not applicable for other shopping platforms.

This sort of scamming schemes will definitely not go away. However, we can try to mitigate them by being a smart customer. Share this out so that your friends and family are aware of this scam.

We’ll definitely update this page when we have more information regarding the whole scam scheme.