C.<p>Electronic component scams: some companies are remarkably open about it.</p><p>If you buy components on AliExpress or similar online markets, you're probably already familiar with getting faux goods. If you're lucky, it's a clone of the actual part you wanted (transistor, opamp, whatever) with similar specs. If you're less lucky, you get a part that's the same general type, but not the one you wanted - order a transistor with particular characteristics, but receive another transistor type entirely, that doesn't work the same way.</p><p>And of course, if you're truly unlucky or you buy the cheapest listing you can find, you get a package with a completely random bit of silicon in it (order a JFET or MOSFET, receive a BJT, possibly with a different pinout...) or even a package with no actual electronics in it (receive a DIP package with proper leads on it, but cut it open and the leads aren't connected to anything, and there's no silicon die in it at all).</p><p>I happened to see this listing on AliBaba, the wholesale / manufacturer site related to AliExpress:<br><a href="https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Screen-printing-TDA7729-TSSOP-28-Audio_1601262782430.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">alibaba.com/product-detail/Scr</span><span class="invisible">een-printing-TDA7729-TSSOP-28-Audio_1601262782430.html</span></a></p><p>If I read it right, they're offering to sell you a cloned part, but they'll silkscreen whatever fake info you want onto the package, so you can sell it as a genuine name-brand part. Or maybe they're offering to remark any component you want, who knows - I'm not going to contact them to find out.</p><p>Pretty brazen.</p><p><a href="https://mindly.social/tags/electronics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>electronics</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/hobby" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hobby</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/AliExpress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AliExpress</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/fake" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fake</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/Chinesium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Chinesium</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/remarked" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>remarked</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/counterfeit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>counterfeit</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/scam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>scam</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/silicon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>silicon</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/component" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>component</span></a></p>