In a story that has made headlines everywhere, Newegg, last week, admitted that a portion of their Intel Core i7 920 inventory was in fact crudely made fakes that were delivered to a few unfortunate buyers. [Read Original Report]

The company released a press statement claiming that this was a result of “demo boxes” mistakenly shipped by one of their long term partners; a story which many just don’t buy.

Intel has now released a preliminary press statement, acknowledging the existence of the counterfeits and promising an investigation on their end.

“Intel has been made aware of the potential for counterfeit i7-920 packages in the marketplace and is working to identify how many and/or where they are being sold, the examples we have seen are not Intel products but are counterfeits. Buyers should contact their place of purchase for a replacement and/or should contact their local law enforcement agency if the place of purchase refuses to help.”

In private statements released to various members of the press, Intel has firmly denied that these are any sort of officially sanctioned demo units.

The two reports seem to directly clash, and leave enormous questions as to exactly how the fakes managed to make their way into Newegg’s inventory.

In a wild turn of events, distributor D&H, who was originally mentioned as a possible source for the counterfeit processors by Kyle of HardOCP, has sent cease and desist orders to the website requesting a take-down of the news and retraction of any mention of D&H Distributing from articles, threatening further legal action.

The contradicting stories, legal threats and general oddities surrounding the entire debacle have only served to fuel the wildfire of speculation.

Newegg has handled the matter with its buyers exceptionally well, taking a proactive approach to ensure any possibly affected customers have been contacted, but has their handling of the press and transparency in regards to the truth been a bit of a surprise to you?