An Amazon customer who ordered a brand new GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card received a box of vintage electronic waste instead of the hardware. The item, which was purchased as a gift for Reddit user u/luutherr, cost 605 euros (around $700 USD). When the package arrived, the recipient opened the box to find a DVD rewriter, a mousepad, and a broken circuit board from a 2000s-era Kenwood AV receiver.
The purchase was shipped and sold directly by Amazon, meaning the package passed through the online retailer’s official distribution network. The scam likely occurred when a previous buyer purchased the real graphics card, swapped it with useless junk of similar weight, and returned the box for a refund. Amazon staff likely accepted the return after running basic weight and condition checks before placing the box back into the active retail inventory.
Also read: Zotac RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti 20th Anniversary GPUs Details
Return swapping remains a persistent issue for online retailers that automate their warehouse operations to handle high volumes of packages. Fraudulent returns previously spiked when Amazon commingled inventory from third-party sellers, though the retailer ended that program last year. Even high-profile releases like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 series remain vulnerable to mail fraud on online storefronts.
The victim plans to request a full refund from Amazon customer support to recover the purchase cost. While Amazon usually grants refunds for verified delivery errors, such experiences damage buyer confidence in purchasing expensive hardware online. Buyers can protect themselves by filming the unboxing process for high-value PC components like graphics cards.
Source: Reddit
