Today I would like to alert the UK consumer of a new scam thats hitting the streets in the UK. Some unscrupulous scammers operating here are selling Intel Celeron G530 2.4ghz Dual Cores with fake tops labled as Intel Core i7 3770K chips. The chips themselfs look very much like the real deal but here are the main points to watch out for.
All of these chips seem to have the same batch code printed on the chip and its this as follows.
Intel® Core™ i7-3770K
SROPL 3.50GHZ i7-3770k
MALAY
L203B532
They also come in a clear chip tray with no box.
I found this out after contacting another poor fellow who purchased one, unlucky for him he left the seller a good feedback as he didnt test the chip in his PC. He has now filed a dispute the same as us.
Now if you are unlucky enough to receive one of these there is something you can do.
File a dispute
If you have recieved one of these from ebay you will need to file a dispute in the resolution centre. Here are the details we provided.
Details you provided:
The item doesn’t match the seller’s description.
You have tried contacting the seller
You paid on 03 Aug, 2012
You contacted the seller through: ‘ebay message’
You entered the phone number xxxxxxxxxxxxx
More comments: he kept telling me to leave him feedback before the item was sent, the item he sent is a intel G530 cpu but labelled as a i7 3770k. This is a scam
You did not give permission to share this phone number with the seller.
The best time to reach you is at ‘any time’.
The item is fake
We then got a response from the seller.
Seller’s message:
“Hi, First of all the Item condition mentioned was “For parts or not working: An item that does not function as intended or is not fully operational. This includes items that are defective in ways that render them difficult to use, items that require service or repair, or items missing essential components. See the seller’s listing for full details.” As I got this product as a complement from Chinese company for my purchase of mp3 players.I wasn’t sure what the item was.Just knew it was CPU and dint have the right facility to test it either . I NEVER MENTION THE PRODUCT WAS intel G530 cpu OR i7 3770k (umm actually buddy you did 
) JUST SAID THE DETAILS WRITTEN ON TOP OF IT AND IT WAS A CPU. I did mentioned that in my description as : “The item has the below description written on top of it Intel® Core™ i7-3770K SROPL 3.50GHZ i7-3770k MALAY L203B532 please note : i am not sure if this thing is working or not ,i have no means to test it.” and also said that I got these from china by mistake delivery.”
In response to this we hit back with this.
“The item was listed as a 3700k 3rd generation i7 chip, intels line of chips for ‘Ivy bridge‘ are 37XX series so your description was advertising a i7 ivy bridge chip. Also you noted the model number was a 3770k, you said it might not work, I was happy with that, you did say it was a 3770k and it is infact a intel celeron G530 ‘Sandy Bridge’ 2nd generation chip with a fake top. You did not state clearly this was a mislabled i.e fake chip. I wanted the chance of repairing a Ivy bridge chip and you provided a fake sandy bridge chip. This is against ebay terms and conditions for counterfeit goods. I want a refund immediately and you to stop selling these chips. You are selling fake goods.”
We are going to get our money back and have had report that the seller is offering partial refunds to the other buyers. I have urged them all to not accept and instead to push for a full refund without returning him these counterfeit chips, if any of us did send them back this mess could carry on.
I would like to let you readers know we have contacted Intel in the UK and they have been very interested in this, we have also forwarded the sellers details to intel, if your reading this expect a knock from the suits. Scammers be warned, intel are after you.
Sadly not surprised at all, hopefully this will get sorted.