Radeon RX 580 Recall Frauds Reported in China
Chinese retailers have started scamming customers for AMD Radeon RX 580 GPUs, all due to their desire to make money from crypto mining.
- Chinese electronics retailers scammed their customers for RX 580 cards;
- They sent to buyers false statements about manufacturing defects;
- The procedure was intended to guarantee retailers access to cards that are suitable for crypto mining.
Customers of Chinese electronics retailers fell victim to a rather unique scame (via Tom's Hardware). It turned out that shady retailers began to send to owners of Radeon RX 580 statements from AMD or XFX about manufacturing defects that are supposed to cause instability of their devices. At the same time they offered to replace the card with an equivalent from Nvidia. In case of refusing the exchange they even offered a refund of more than double its original value.
This type of proposal does not seem unfair at first glance. Especially when the addressee is a customer with no knowledge of computer hardware. However, it turns out that the alleged statements from AMD and XFX were forged, and RX 580 did not in fact have any factory defects. That doesn't change the fact that the sellers were really offering to replace the returned hardware or refund it. Instead of RX 580 they offered GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060 3 GB, among others. Indeed, their goal was not a simple theft, but to obtain a GPU that is more suitable for crypto mining.
According to specialists, RX 580 is a card that is very efficient when it comes to mining digital currency. At the same time, it is no longer produced, making it even more valuable for miners. Radeon RX 580 is able to mine Ethereum equivalent to about $3 per day. The cards that vendors have offered to customers in return only score just over a dollar.
AMD and XFX have taken notice of the increasingly common phenomenon. Both companies have already issued statements telling customers that RX 580's alleged manufacturing defects are a scam. They also intend to take legal action against the retailers. The companies accuse them of spreading misinformation and illegally using their brands. How the whole affair will end, we will probably find out only in some time. However, such a decisive move on the part of AMD and XFX may lead to a reduction in the scale of this type of frauds in the near future.
