Fraudsters are offering fake RTX 4090 graphics cards online.

Fraudsters have become active in the online space, offering fake or non-functional video cards presented as the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 models. This scheme allows malicious individuals to circulate defective, mining-worn, or completely non-functioning devices through unofficial sales channels.

According to YouTube blogger and computer repair specialist from China, Fydn, the fake video cards have two serious problems. First, the cards do not work, which is expected for devices sent for repair. More importantly, even if they did work, these would not be genuine RTX 4090 models.

The fraudsters not only change the labels, but also replace the chip markings, which means that the counterfeiting can only be detected by powering on the card and using specialized tools like GPU-Z. The scheme is simple and well-known: the GA102 Ampere chip used in RTX 3090, 3080 Ti, and 3080 is presented as the AD102, which is the heart of the RTX 4090.

Ultimately, out of four video cards sent by one customer, none of them powered on. Upon inspection, it was found that three of them had fake graphics chips. Only one card contained the genuine AD102 chip and was successfully repaired. The rest were not restorable.