Newegg Ships Counterfeit Intel Core i7 920 CPUs

[Arinoth]

How come all these counterfeit i7 920s dont have any pictures/proof of where they got it from, i mean all companies ship it with the order number. I could be blanked out all the sensitive info but i mean i'd like to see that proof

[FiXT]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

How come all these counterfeit i7 920s dont have any pictures/proof of where they got it from, i mean all companies ship it with the order number. I could be blanked out all the sensitive info but i mean i'd like to see that proof

Newegg has confirmed that counterfeit products were inadvertently shipped out to customers

[Polygon]

This is crazy, how would this happen? Would it be the supplier or at the intel company itself?

[thorn]

saw this earlier on HardOCP, the molded HSF's gave me a chuckle.

I wonder if whoever is responsible for this was banking on NewEgg not believing the customers.

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by thorn

I wonder if whoever is responsible for this was banking on NewEgg not believing the customers.

I doubt it. Might have bought them a day or two, but multiple people across the country reporting the same exact thing would have to buy them credibility.

Some distributor had some boxes of inventory switched over while in transit. Only question is how many boxes, and if any other retailers were affected.

[chrisk]

Kyle over at Hardocp had this to say:

Another source is telling us that 300 counterfeit processors were purchased by Newegg from D&H Distributing and that the fakes were delivered last week in a shipment totaling 2000 pieces. It was also communicated to me that Newegg has now "discovered" all 300 counterfeit processors.

Vincent did contact Newegg customer service and got a real Intel Core i7 processor on the way. I bet they checked the packaging and holographic stamp a bit closer this time.

Talking to Intel on this, it stated:

...our security/tech support guys have a few incidents on this today they are investigating. Stay tuned!

Source: Newegg Selling Fake Intel CPUs - Newegg Selling Fake Intel CPUs | [H]ard|OCP

[FiXT]

Newegg posted via twitter:

Newegg is aware of a shipping error that occurred with certain recent orders of the Intel Core i7-920 CPU. After investigating the issue internally it appears one of our long term partners mistakenly shipped a small number of demo boxes......instead of functional units. Our customer service team has already begun proactively reaching out to the affected customers. In line with our commitment to ensure total customer satisfaction...We are doing everything in our power to resolve the issue as soon as possible and with the least amount of inconvenience to our customers.

Seems like a weird way to do demo boxes IMO. The custom printed boxes, the security seal, the rudimentary "assembly skills". It would be much easier to provide a REAL HSF than it would be be build that thing I'm sure.

I've seen demo boxes of processors before (granted never an Intel one) and they are nothing like that. They are generally just shells, or defective units.

[chrisk]

I can see the fake HSF or CPU perhaps, but why print a new 'shoddy' box?

Sounds like a cover-up to me.

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by FiXT

Newegg posted via twitter:




Seems like a weird way to do demo boxes IMO. The custom printed boxes, the security seal, the rudimentary "assembly skills". It would be much easier to provide a REAL HSF than it would be be build that thing I'm sure.

I've seen demo boxes of processors before (granted never an Intel one) and they are nothing like that. They are generally just shells, or defective units.

No way these are "demo boxes". The spelling alone puts the lie to that tale.

Why do companies feel they have to "massage" every bit of bad news? This is obviously a fairly sophisticated scam that originated through the distribution chain. Why not just admit the facts of the case and carry on from there?

[SugarJ]

Originally Posted by sswilson

This is obviously a fairly sophisticated scam that originated through the distribution chain.

Bingo. 300 missing processors would be noticed. 300 blue boxes when you expect to see blue boxes? No problem. It's an employee of Intel, the trucking firm or the distribution center that swapped them out. They'll be on ebay or craigslist. Sell them for 250 each, that's $75,000. Cost to produce the fakes? Probably $1000.