I think "China relabel" is more likely. There's a LOT of relabeling going on today. Typically, standard chips are relabeled as high-reliability expanded-temp chips, which is harder to detect. This fraud was stupid, at some level.
8 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttjAew3UwjA A bunch of other videos exist on youtube, the audio guys get the brunt of it I believe. Friend picked up some MOS SID chips from eBay, fake. I'm surprised they fake such cheap ICs, less surprised they fake more expensive semiconductors. Usually if a chip is laser engraved for the info and not silkscreened I assume it's a Chinese clone. Some clones work, some are total outright frauds. The problem is eBay and aliexpress are indeed a lot cheaper, and it's not like all the other electronics aren't produced in China with real to-spec chips. So it's a roll of the dice.