One notable case reported in Hong Kong involved an individual who purchased an RTX 4090 for approximately $1,660, only to discover that the card was non-functional. Despite their attempts to seek assistance from local authorities, their efforts proved fruitless, leading them to seek media coverage through specialized Chinese press blogs. Online forums, particularly Chiphell, have seen a surge in similar complaints. Prospective buyers, particularly those interested in used GeForce RTX 4090 cards, often fall victim to enticing pricing without realizing the potential for fraudulent transactions.

This rise in counterfeit sales appears to be closely tied to the prohibition of the RTX 4090 and other high-end NVIDIA GPUs in China and several other countries. The United States government justified these restrictions as measures to safeguard military and national security interests, given the GPUs' substantial capabilities in advanced Artificial Intelligence processing.

Subsequent to these sanctions, reports have surfaced of GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards being repurposed for server use in China. These modifications involve disassembling the cards to extract the GPU and memory components, which are then integrated into other PCBs and Blower-type cooling systems optimized for server rack environments.