Beware: Counterfeit Intel CPU Scam on Used Market

Sponsor: Thermaltake Ceres 500 TG on Amazon - We’re talking about a scam on the used/second-hand CPU market that seems to primarily affect Intel CPUs. Scammers are rebranding lower-end parts as high-end CPUs, then vanishing after the sale. One of our viewers was scammed out of $500 for a 12900KS, so we bought it off of the viewer to see how the scam worked. This shows tricks both physically and digitally that you can use to verify whether a CPU is counterfeit -- and of course, the physical ones are most important as they can reveal a fake CPU before you even buy it. The best way to support our work is through our store: Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: RELATED PRODUCTS Intel i5-13400 on Amazon: AMD R7 5700X on Amazon: Intel Core i3-13100F on Amazon: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 on Amazon: Intel i5-13600K on Amazon: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 on Amazon: Intel i7-13700K on Amazon: AMD R5 5600X on Amazon: AMD R7 5800X on Amazon: AMD R9 5900X on Amazon: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X on Amazon: TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Counterfeit CPUs 02:09 - GPU Scams 04:10 - The CPU Scam 05:24 - Software Proof of a Fraud 06:06 - Intel Official Validation Check 08:15 - How the Text Vanishes 10:00 - Physical Identifiers of Scam CPUs 11:41 - Serial Number Identification Tools 15:17 - BUT WHY?! (& Intel Comment) ** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! ** Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video (“this video is brought to you by“) and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or “sponsored content“ (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage. Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates: t: f: w: Host, Additional Writing: Steve Burke Writing, Research, Testing: Jeremy Clayton Video: Vitalii Makhnovets