Yes, a totally non-working fake isn't the most common thing to occur. Unless they got the counterfeits for free, the vendor is losing money on replacing the fak

Yes, a totally non-working fake isn't the most common thing to occur. Unless they got the counterfeits for free, the vendor is losing money on replacing the fakes with real ones. They are assuming everyone will either never use the chip or just assume they fried the chip and buy another. Selling rejects from the fab or clones as legit is much easier to get away with.