US-bought laptop with Brazilian memory

[LFG1]

Because my laptop is out of warranty I sent it to a unofficial repair place in Brazil. In addition to the repair, they replaced the memory because it was supposedly not working. The broken memory they removed should be the original one (from factory), but it came with a tag in Portuguese saying "made in Brazil" (Smart brand) and since I bought my laptop in the US I suspect they scammed me. I want to know if it is somehow possible that a laptop bought in the US came with a memory made in Brazil. I really appreciate the help.

[Huffer]

HP uses different memory chips in its laptops generally Samsung or Hynix. I have never seen a "Made in Brazil" stamp on any OEM laptop memory ever. Can you post a picture? Not sure you got scammed if the memory is working. Is it the correct type and speed? Memory modules are assembled all over the world. You can buy the little black memory blocks and attach them to PCB boards and have a memory module and just because they come from some odd place does not mean it is defective product. 

[LFG1]

Thanks for the reply, Huffer. This is a picture of it. The memory is working, but I suspect that it was never broken, and they did not change the memory, only gave me this one saying that it is the one that came with my laptop and charged me for the price of a new one. Unfortunately this kind of things happen all the time in Brazil. So I just want to know if it is possible that the laptop came with this brazilian memory, I think it would be a big coincidence since I bought it in the US...

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

There is zero chance the laptop was delivered from the factory with that memory. But it appears to be an 8 gig module of the right memory. An honest shop will give the customer the option of receiving a return of parts replaced. 

I guess if the original memory was not bad, they could receive a free chip of US OEM memory and just get paid for this local memory but that seems like a rather elaborate scam to me. 

If the original memory was bad, you would expect to find a different module in its place, right? And this is likely the kind of memory the shop has access to use to replace it. 

[LFG1]

Thanks a lot again, Huffer. This is what I expectect. The memory in the picture is the one they gave me back saying that it is the original one (broken) that they removed from my laptop. So I guess this is just a random one, and they charged me as if they replaced something they probably did not replace, very simple scam actually. My hope is that my laptop still has the original one, and it is still good. Do you know if there is a way to know if the one currently in my laptop is the one that came from factory? Thanks again.

[Huffer]

Yes you can install SiSoft Sandra and it will give you the manufacturer, specs and even the product number of the memory modules without opening the machine. 

http://www.sisoftware.eu/download-buy/

The Lite (free) version works fine for this purpose. Just click "Computer Overview" from the start menu after you install it. 

I understand the scam (or what you believe may be the scam). They hand you a random bad memory module, say it came from your computer, charge you for a replacement, and they never really replaced anything.