The ongoing component shortage and mounting geopolitical uncertainty have created a tough time for the PC industry. Memory and NAND flash have been hardest hit in terms of price hikes, and the proliferation of counterfeit products only makes things worse for consumers. As reported by ComputerBase, a customer ("etoo") in Austria recently ordered two 1 TB Samsung 990 Pro SSDs, only to receive at least one fake drive that can't even be formatted.
Previously, we covered a similar story from Japan where a fake 990 Pro was benchmarked by a local outlet. That drive actually performed exceptionally well, but it seems like the dupes have now spread to Europe, too. The buyer placed an order with an Austrian retailer and received the box a few days later, as expected. The packaging was "deceptively real," carrying a seal and most of the same markings as the original.
