Micro Center parking lot deal gone wrong - I almost lost $150 on a fake 3080

Met a guy behind the Micro Center in Dallas last Saturday who swore his RTX 3080 was fresh from a mining rig. Looked legit in photos but when I plugged it in at home, the fans spun but no display output - turns out it was a flashed BIOS from a dead card. After three hours of troubleshooting I finally got a refund through PayPal, but now I only test GPUs in person with a monitor and a bench PSU. Anyone else get burned by a FaceBook Marketplace seller with a card that looks too clean?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowank6910d ago

Changed my mind completely on this, used to think the wristband trick was enough but now I bring a whole test rig to meetups. PayPal saved your ass though, these scammers are getting too good at hiding dead cards.

barbara39910d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah I read something the other day about how these guys are using some kind of heat shrink wrap to hide dead cards now, it's wild. Makes the card look brand new even when you run a fingernail over it, that wristband trick is basically useless against that. A friend of mine got burned last month on a card that passed the light test and everything, only found out when he tried to load it at the register. PayPal really does save you in those situations but it's a hassle getting your money back, takes forever. I've been looking into those little handheld testers myself, seems like the only way to be sure anymore. These scammers are getting way too clever for their own good.