Chinese police have arrested 22 people in connection with the sale of counterfeit GPUs through an online retailer.

Police in Binzhou, located in China's Bincheng district, raided a warehouse of a gang suspected of obtaining old GPUs from crypto-mining rigs, cleaning them, repackaging them as new, and selling them. This was the result of a year-long investigation (via Videocardz).

According to police, this was an elaborate operation involving several different crews, each responsible for different tasks. One team "acquired" the GPUs, another was in charge of cleaning and testing them, and another group did the packaging and labeling to make them look brand new. Of course, one team was also in charge of selling counterfeit products.

Since the crypto-mining boom came to an end, used GPUs have flooded the used market, especially in China. Many of these GPUs have suffered tremendous wear and tear from 24/7 mining, sometimes dramatically affecting their performance and undoubtedly reducing their resale value.

Victims have paid full price for GPUs labeled as new, but did not realize until it was too late that they were worth a fraction of what they were worth. Some scammers even repaint GPUs and pretend they are brand new.

Of the 22 arrests, only seven have been charged criminally. Police estimate the value of the fake GPUs involved in the criminal cases to be over US$2 million.

It is also possible that some counterfeit GPUs have made their way to U.S. retailers, so caution should be exercised when purchasing a new graphics card from a third-party seller. As a rule of thumb, if you find the price of a new GPU too high, you are probably right.