At least 32 Zotac RTX 5090 buyers at Micro Center find only backpacks inside the boxes

[midian182]

WTF?! Imagine spending an obscene amount of money on an RTX 5090, only to discover the box contains nothing but backpacks. More than 30 people who bought Zotac versions of Nvidia's flagship made this discovery after purchasing the cards from a Micro Center store in Santa Clara.

A redditor going by the handle JamesFerg650 posted an image – taken in a car – of his Zotac RTX 5090 box that had been purchased from Micro Center Santa Clara. Other images showed the box opened on a bed, containing nothing but sealed GlamAholic backpacks.

The box was returned to Micro Center, naturally. It's easy to imagine the store refusing to hand over another card by claiming this was all an unimaginative ruse to get a free RTX 5090. But staff did give JamesFerg650 his replacement because 31 other people also bought backpack-filled Zotac boxes.

It seems whoever swapped the cards for the backpacks made sure the weights were similar – just half a pound difference.

In a statement addressing the situation, the store said it was aware of the reports and investigating. Micro Center has since confirmed that the incidents took place – several Reddit comments had cast doubt on JamesFerg650's claims.

The company said the boxes had been altered at the Zotac factory in China. Zotac USA responded to the Reddit thread and is doubtlessly carrying out its own investigation.

Micro Center lists the card in question at $2,900. With at least 32 presumably stolen, that's almost $93,000 worth of pilfered cards.

This isn't the first time we've seen retailers selling GPU boxes containing items that aren't graphics cards. In 2022, a Newegg customer received an RTX 4090 box filled with weights. Sometimes the cards are there but missing vital components like the GPU itself or VRAM chips. There was also the case of the person who bought an RTX 3060 Ti from Amazon and found it filled with a putty-like substance.

When these cases are isolated, it can be difficult for customers to prove they were genuine victims rather than scammers. It's often suggested that you record the opening of expensive deliveries, and unbox high-value hardware in the store at the time of purchase – if possible.

Permalink to story:

At least 32 Zotac RTX 5090 buyers at Micro Center find only backpacks inside the boxes

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

New Guy Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking 5090"

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I suppose the backpack does fulfill those check boxes the Blackwell GPUs have been having:

Check: Missing ROPs
Check: Can catch on fire
Check: Issues with GPU drivers

I don't see what the problem is. Looks like they got what they paid for. Overpriced merchandise that doesn't function like it's supposed to.

Micro Center lists the card in question at $2,900. With at least 32 presumably stolen, that's almost $93,000 worth of pilfered cards.

You can't claim the stolen cards are valued at that price because Micro Center cannot, either. They can only claim the value they purchased the cards at for insurance purposes. I'd venture to guess they got the cards for under $2k each and the only reason they're still priced at $2900 is because that's the rate retards are willing to pay for it.

 

[godrilla]

My 4090 suprim liquid got snatched mid transit Via USPS carrier last week Via ebay before it got to the seller. The shipping details show the weight goes from 6 to 0 pounds before the right before delivery. Luckily I got insurance. What a shyte show!

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Meanwhile me, an intellectual: I once received two DDR4 memory banks from Amazon.it. I paid for just one.

 

[human7]

U.S. Government: Sanctions 5090 so it shouldn't be in China.

Zotac (and probably everyone else): Has a factory in China where they finish packaging the 5090 (and whatever else they do to it there).

U.S. Government: Surprised that China can get hands on 5090.

Whether these 5090s are disappearing from Zotac's factory because of individual greed or state sponsored theft, that is the question.

 

[BogdanR]

Oh, now I understand the flood of 5090s at MSRP or under!

 

[BogdanR]

Meanwhile me, an intellectual: I once received two DDR4 memory banks from Amazon.it. I paid for just one.

Probably a dyslexic Amazon warehouse worker.

 

[mikus]

Now you know where China is getting all it's 5090's they're not supposed to have.

 

[p51d007]

Gee would would have thunk it!

altered at the Zotac factory in China

 

[toooooot]

Back to school package. More school, no gaming.

 

[Shirley Dulcey]

The version of the story that I have seen elsewhere is that the other "cards" were still in Micro Center's stock. They had not been sold to customers.