The RAMpocalypse has developed a whole new style of scam: one unlucky gamer opened a sealed box of new DDR5 memory from Amazon only to find two sticks of DDR2

Different sticks of DDR4 memory — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Seems like everywhere you look there's a fresh scam on the hardware marketplace, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for even the most vigilant PC Gamer to avoid. Case in point, one unlucky shopper thought they were getting DDR5 RAM at a decent price, only to have sticks of DDR2 memory with shoddy printed labels mimicking DDR5 heatsinks turn up at their door.

The shopper in question goes by the handle BravoNorris, and had scooped up the last four available XPG Caster 32 GB DDR5-6000 CL40 kits from Adata, each containing two sticks of 16 GB memory. All were sold as new and sealed from Amazon Spain. After selling one, and installing another, BravoNorris opened a third box only to find the sticker scam in their hand. That's when they reached out to VideoCardz with the story.

Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card on different backgrounds — (Image credit: Future)

For instance, $90,000 worth of RTX 5090 GPUs had been replaced in-box with crossbody backpacks at just one unfortunate Silicon Valley Micro Center store. It's not all doom and gloom though, as plenty of eBay users then got their own back at scalping bots by listing printed pictures of the RTX 5090 for $2000—sometimes throwing in a snazzy frame from Target too.

It remains to be seen whether Amazon will refund this unfortunate link in the scam chain. For anyone concerned about falling afoul of return fraud themselves, VideoCardz advises recording your own unboxings—from stripping back the shrinkwrap to inspecting the serial numbers—for every expensive hardware purchase just in case and I concur.

Secretlab Titan Evo gaming chair in Royal colouring, on a white background

Best PC gaming kit 2025

1. Best gaming chair: Secretlab Titan Evo

2. Best gaming desk: Secretlab Magnus Pro XL

3. Best gaming headset: Razer BlackShark V3

4. Best gaming keyboard: Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless

5. Best gaming mouse: Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro

6. Best PC controller: GameSir G7 Pro

7. Best steering wheel: Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel

8. Best microphone: Shure MV6 USB Gaming Microphone

9. Best webcam: Elgato Facecam MK.2

👉Check out our list of guides👈

TOPICS

Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending the last seven working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not writing about all things hardware here, she’s getting cosy with a horror classic, ranting about a cult hit to a captive audience, or tinkering with some tabletop nonsense.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.