AMD chip buyers order and receive the chips as normal but when they put them into their machines they do not behave as expected, or don’t fit.

What appears to have happened is that someone is taking older or less expensive CPUs and delidding them and dressing them up to look like more expensive A8-7600s. Most of the time you are getting AM2 Athlon X2 cores.

The scam is exclusive to the AMD A8-7600, and the situation appears to be limited to Amazon in the United Kingdom.

The danger is that this could spread over to other products if the scam is successful. Toms’ Hardware said it would be a doddle to do with Haswell products, switching the IHS of a Celeron with a Core i7, because both products are LGA1150.

Amazon have not commented but AMD is mounting an inquiry.

AMD said it is having a word with Amazon and the local enforcement authorities to conclude this incident quickly and ensure that the rigorous quality and reliability standards that AMD is known for are maintained.

AMD has a guide listed on its website to help verify the legitimacy of CPUs.