About This Mac/System Report displaying incorrect info

[pixelpopper]

Howdy folks,

I bought a secondhand Macbook Pro 13 (2012) a while back and the guy I bought it off somehow managed to make 'About This Mac'/'System Report' display incorrect hardware information. The system I bought was supposed to be an i7, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD but once I updated to the latest version of El Capitan upon returning home, 'About This Mac' and 'System Report' both displayed conflicting hardware info.

I have since confirmed via both the serial number and system diagnostics that my machine is an i5, 8GB, 128GB SSD.

Do any of you know how he did this and whether or not I can fix it without having to wipe my machine? I'm in the middle of a college course and I can't afford to have to do a clean install at the minute as I have a lot of software installed that I use on a daily basis.

The attached screen captures were taken by me today and should explain more clearly what I'm talking about.

Thanks in advance for any help. I'd love to figure this one out.

 

[JohnDS]

He may have hacked it as shown here:

 

[pixelpopper]

He may have hacked it as shown here:

Ah, I see. Wow. I honestly can't believe that Mac OS allows changing of system information like that.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[chown33]

You were defrauded.

Get your money back.

 

[jgelin]

Wow I cannot believe this is a thing either. Sucks that it happened OP; but, is now something I will look out for in the future when dealing with used macs!

 

[pixelpopper]

You were defrauded.

Get your money back.

Unfortunately I can't. The scumbag used a burner and his account is now closed. Luckily I only paid about 50euro over the value of my machine since the asking price was a pretty good deal for an i7, but not so good that I should have been skeptical. Oh well, you live and learn as they say.
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Wow I cannot believe this is a thing either. Sucks that it happened OP; but, is now something I will look out for in the future when dealing with used macs!

Thanks man. Absolutely. I honestly feel that this is something that potential second-hand buyers should be made aware of. I had no idea that it was possible to do this to a mac. I guess it's my own fault for not checking the serial number online, but once the guy demoed the specs via About This Mac/System Report and everything checked out I thought I was in the clear since the machine was absolutely immaculate otherwise. Anyway, lesson learned.