This PC gamer purchased an RTX 5090 from Micro Center, got a box filled with backpacks instead

PC gamers just want to spend their hard-earned cash on the best gaming PC components available, with Redditors now reporting that they purchased a ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card from Micro Center, but were scammed.

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Instead of the RTX 5090, they found backpacks (yeah, the ones that go... on your back) inside of the box, and not their expensive new RTX 5090 graphics card. Redditor u/JamesFerg650 was scammed, reporting he purchased a brand new ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 but when he opened the box, there was no RTX 5090, and instead it was a few backpacks.

Even though the box was sealed, it means that the package was tampered with before it reached the shipping docks of Micro Center, and this since Redditor isn't the only one that has been scammed with an RTX 5090. Micro Center has since confirmed there have been 30 cases of RTX 5090 cards with backpacks in them, and they're all ZOTAC GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards.

The only thing that could be happening here is that there is a middleman in the supply chain, who have been intercepting the packages before they get to Micro Center, taking out the expensive new RTX 5090 cards, and putting backpacks inside of them instead.

After the story broke, Micro Center confirmed that the ZOTAC RTX 5090 boxes were messed with at ZOTAC's facility in China, as ZOTAC had reached out to the user on Reddit. I'm sure we're going to see an investigation into this issue, as the cost of 32 x RTX 5090s sits at around $90,000... that's a decent chunk of coin, and a lot of scammed PC gamers.

Micro Center Santa Clara said: "Our team is aware of these reports and are actively investigating the legitimacy of the issue. At this time, we are still working internally with our Santa Clara team to confirm details they have on their end. We sadly do not have any details to confirm if this is indeed true, however we are working as quickly as possible with the Santa Clara team on this. While they are aware of these reports, our team in-store will do everything they can in their typical process to check these items before they are purchased. Our best recommendation from here is speaking with the Santa Clara team in-store if you plan on visiting, for any more information they may have at that time".