One unlucky PC gamer ordered an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 (opens in new tab) as soon as it went on sale and received a box full of heavy metal. Not even cool. It's literally a hunk of metal that weighs the same as the RTX 4090.

This is not the first time I have heard of a box that was supposed to contain a graphics card, but instead contained something completely different. We often hear reports of other, less capable graphics cards being replaced by customers returning their cards, and those same returns being shipped to someone else. It is a sad state of affairs.

The original post by user NuclearInnardsBeep (quite a name) on Reddit (opens in new tab) received a lot of attention over the weekend. This is because not only is it reported that this was ordered at the time of the GPU launch and not a return from another customer, but Newegg has reportedly locked the customer's account.

We contacted Newegg regarding the order, and a spokesperson told us the reason for the lock was due to Newegg's process when dealing with potential fraud.

"Newegg's process involves suspending a customer's account for several days to allow Newegg to investigate any potential fraud. Since there was no evidence available, the account was reinstated during this suspension period."

It makes sense. Scams like this are common; even some users responding to the Reddit thread seemed to believe that the original poster was making it up. In any case, Newegg has confirmed to us that this does not appear to be the case, and unfortunately, this sort of thing is so common as to be highly plausible.

Newegg also confirmed to us that the card is brand new.

We also asked the retailer where the card might have ended up, but were told there was no evidence to say. It is a mystery; we will probably never know when and where the GPU replacement took place.

Newegg refunded the customer and the account was reinstated. So they ended up back where they started before they secured the RTX 4090 in the first place. It kinda sucks because it's even harder to find this card in stock today, but at least you won't be stuck with two very expensive paperweights.