Re: SID chip fraud(!)

MagerValp wrote:
A seller is selling a New Old Stock SID chips on eBay, or so he
claims. Kevin Horton bought a few, and found that they were all bad.
He noticed that there was something fishy about the chip packaging -
it differed between the chips, even though they had identical date
markings.

That doesn't mean anything. I collect MOS chips - actually I used to, I
don't anymore - and if I hadn't to go through sealed carton boxes, I could
easily take pictures for you of chips made the same day with a slightly
different packaging.

Think about it: MOS does a run of 50 SID chips, one day ( for example ).
They only have 20 packages coming from, say Thailand, and 30 from Honk Kong,
that look different. Do you think they are supposed to use a different
production run mark? No.

That alone doesn't necessarily mean they are fake.

After rubbing them with acetone, he discovered that they
have been *repainted* to look as new:

All I see is a few blank packages. Where are the old markings on those
pictures? I can't see them. Maybe just one, but the other ones? It's amazing
this guy really went into remarking SID chips...I mean, it probably takes a
lot of time, how much money is he making with this scam?

http://kevtris.org/Projects/sid/remarked_sids.html

It seems likely that the seller has gotten hold of a large quantity of
defective SID chips, and is trying to get some quick cash. I'm amazed
that someone would go through all that trouble for what has to be very
little return, and considering the small potential market, fairly high
risk. Still, it's easy to hide behind paypal with a fake email address
these days.

Well, the best thing to do would be testing the chips and leaving a negative
feedback or ask for a refund if they don't work.

If you've recently bought a NOS SID chip, test it thoroughly (maybe
all chips aren't bad), and rub it with acetone to see if it has been
repainted.

You have to be careful with acetone, because, as you can see, you almost end
with just blanks.

Kevin will update his webpage as he figures out more, so stay tuned.

Why doesn't Kevin simply tell us the eBay ID of the seller so we stay away
from him? :-)

Riccardo


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