Scammers are selling counterfeit DDR5 RAM with plastic chips

Counterfeit DDR5 RAM is circulating in online storefronts and gray market retailers, and some fake modules are convincing enough to pass visual inspection — until you open them. According to Digital Trends, the chips installed on the fraudulent sticks are not memory at all, but simply fiberglass cards shaped to look like legitimate DRAM.

The issue was reported by a Japanese X user who purchased what appeared to be a genuine SK Hynix SO-DIMM laptop module and physically dissected it after becoming suspicious. Inside, they found non-functional pieces of fiberglass where the memory chips should have been.

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“At first glance, they look like ordinary USB sticks, but the chips actually installed on them are just bare circuit boards, plastic cards. I took them out and opened them to check,” reads a translation of the X post.

Some of these counterfeits are reportedly being sold openly on auction platforms like Yahoo Japan in listings marked “untested” or “junk,” with sellers explicitly refusing returns.

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The problem is compounded with desktop DDR5 kits, where large heatsinks completely cover the memory chips. Without visible chips to inspect, Digital Trends notes, buyers often have no way to confirm what they have purchased until a system fails to boot or repeatedly fails.

The conditions for this type of fraud are simple. DDR5 prices have been rising sharply for more than a year, driven by AI-related demand that has sparked a global memory crisis. And with memory makers prioritizing enterprise and server production over consumer supply, there’s no end in sight for buyers.

Mashable previously reported that Framework, the modular PC maker, has increased its DDR5 prices several times through the end of 2025, with a 48GB module increasing from $240 to $620 over the months. Samsung has warned its manufacturing partners of further price hikes to come, with major laptop makers including Lenovo, Dell and HP warning of price increases.