FAKE MEMORY PLAGUES SOME COMPUTER BUYERS.

Byline: Dean Takahashi Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Charles Salzenberg thought he was getting ``SRAM'' when he got his new computer. But what the Palm Harbor, Fla., resident believes he really got was a ``SCAM.''

The high-powered computer Salzenberg bought in November didn't have the oomph he expected. Salzenberg, a programmer, had the wits to test what he paid for, only to find out that the computer's cache - a set of secondary memory chips, or static random-access memory, which stores frequently used data - didn't work. The computer's diagnostic system had been altered to disguise the scam.

So Salzenberg took the computer back and ordered a new one from another computer dealer. This generic computer was also deceptively cacheless. It had, as one industry insider called the fake chips, ``empty bullets.''

``At first I was in denial,'' Salzenberg said. ``There must be some mistake. Then I was angry: I've been ripped off.''

But customers routinely are given the ``option'' of selecting ``cacheless'' computers at the Computer Craft store where Salzenberg bought his first PC, said Daniel Horna, president of the store in St. Petersburg, Fla. Horna said customers have several types of computers to choose from, including ones with no working memory chips. But Horna insists he is not misleading customers.

``Some people call it fake,'' Horna said. ``If you don't specify that you want real SRAM, this is what you get. If you have a problem with this, take it up with the manufacturers in Taiwan and China. Everybody is selling the same product.''

He declined to say which companies sold him the machines with fake cache. In advertisements on the Internet, Computer Craft lists various motherboards that all contain ``256K cache,'' which is not what Salzenberg says he received.

Although the fraud is hard to detect because the computer still operates properly, savvy computer users in places as far removed as England, Vancouver, New Zealand, Massachusetts, Australia and, of course, San Jose, have complained of cacheless computers.

But it isn't clear how widespread the practice is or just exactly who is supplying the fake parts. Local law enforcement officials say they haven't heard much about the scam, nor have the largest manufacturers of memory chips. The geographic diversity of the complaints, rather than the numbers, is the biggest sign of widespread fraud that could - and probably already has - infiltrated into the homes of computer users everywhere.

Its proliferation underscores the growing demand for everything electronic - and how customers and suppliers are willing to take ``shortcuts'' to cut prices. Recently, another price-cutting technique was short-circuited when federal and local law enforcement authorities arrested dozens of suspected gang members for stealing computer chips and other high-tech equipment.

In this latest form of computer fraud, in which customers are sold non-existent storage capabilities, distributors or computer component makers profit or pocket a few extra dollars in the cutthroat PC industry, where profit margins are low and competition is high. It is frustrating not only to consumers but to retailers and computer manufacturers as well.

Steve Singer, owner of Regnis Distributors, a Tampa, Fla., computer dealer who was familiar with Salzenberg's case, says the chip scam allowed competitors to sell their machines for lower prices.

``We tested one in the store, and the chips were just fake,'' he said. ``I'm not selling this board, but I believe my competitors are.''

Victims like Salzenberg are concerned that the opportunities for fraud are getting bigger as computers reach the non-technical public. Many consumers don't know enough about their computers to figure out if they've been victimized or not. These people are fodder for the computer industry's underground economy, which profits from their lack of technical expertise. Protecting yourself from scams can be extremely time-consuming.

``These thieves will stop at nothing,'' said Marylu Korkuch, a spokeswoman for the Technology Theft Prevention Foundation. ``They're so clever, they just change their scam slightly and move on to something new.''