Researchers Claim That Scalper Bots Are Taking Over 90% Of Traffic For A RAM Retailer Site

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If you shop online, odds are you have at least once tried to purchase an item only to click on the checkout link and learn it's sold out. Maybe you spent too much time filling out your cart, or maybe the item was so popular it sold out in minutes. Or maybe scalpers used illicit means to get their greasy hands on the product. The more valuable the item, the more it attracts scalpers.

Recently, the computer security firm DataDome (which specializes in monitoring and blocking bot traffic) published a study that confirmed your worst fears: scalpers are making the global RAM crisis even worse by flooding retailer websites with bots. According to the study (which is summarized on LinkedIn), scalper bots outnumbered "legitimate" customers 6:1 just in March 2026, and the situation has only gotten worse. The VP of Threat Research at DataDome, Jérôme Segura, stated that the ratio of bots compared to actual customers recently climbed as high as 10:1, and that "91% of the traffic hitting one retailer's DDR5 RAM product pages" consisted of bots.

RAM prices reached record highs in 2026 due to the ongoing shortage, and scalper bots are only making the scarcity (and the prices) worse. Say what you will about the RAM that companies snap up to use in AI data centers — and the harm data centers cause – at least the chips are actually being used. But when scalpers utilize bots to purchase RAM in bulk, they just sit on their ill-gotten stock, waiting for people to pay their highway-robbery prices. All the while, the RAM gathers dust.

While AI companies focus on RAM chips, they know that programs can't run on random access memory alone. Many other components are crucial for data farms and are thus hot commodities. Unfortunately, scalpers follow the market, so it doesn't matter if people are buying Labubus, Jordans, or trading cards; all are equal avenues of profit. When it comes to computer components, GPUs are a popular target for scalpers.

When Nvidia launched the RTX 5090, scalpers bulk-purchased supplies before many actual customers could even react, resulting in artificial scarcity that drove up component prices. The market has yet to fully recover. Even if you're lucky enough to find a store with a 5090 in stock, you can't buy it without spending several thousand dollars. You're better off purchasing a cheaper option like the RTX 5070. Of course, all of this raises the question of how scalpers even know what items to buy and where to send bots. As antithetical as this might sound, scalpers have built a community around mass-purchasing items.

Many scalpers run online groups that tell people not only what to purchase but also the stores that sell them. Anyone can join these "cook groups," so it's not unheard of for legitimate customers to sign up just so they can buy these highly sought-after items. There's nothing wrong with using scalpers' own tools against them to even the playing field, just so long as you don't use bots and only buy what you need/want. You don't want to become a scalper yourself, because then you're part of the problem.