Jeff; One of the major differences in this hobby (unlike many others) is that there is a membership network that diligently tries to educate and protect newbies such as yourself. What organization such as CC & GTCC exists to immediately warn of bogus baseball cards as just one comparison/example? This is not the first time one of these Silver Slipper chips has come into question and the warning flag has been raised. Unfortunately, you were probably not around then. As others have suggested; take it as a learning experience. Sometimes it costs money to go to school and be educated. We've all gone through similar experiences.