Customer Buys RTX 5090 on Amazon, Receives Detergent, and Amazon Refuses Refund

Scams on Amazon persist, and the latest incident involves a customer attempting to purchase an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. From India, a buyer invested a substantial 299,995 rupees (approximately 2,790 euros or 3,190 dollars) for a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 5090 Windforce OC 32G graphics card through the platform. To their dismay, instead of the expensive component, they received a simple pack of Ghadi detergent, valued at merely 2 euros per kilogram.

While scams involving PC components are not new, especially with rising memory prices, the real turning point in this case is Amazon's response. Despite the user reporting the fraud, the company firmly refused to process any refund, making this situation a highly relevant news event.

Amazon Denies Customer Refund for GeForce RTX 5090 Scam Despite Evidence

The affected customer reported not only receiving the wrong item but also that the package showed clear signs of tampering before being opened: a damaged box, original manufacturer seals cut and covered with transparent tape, and a barcode sticker that did not match the product. They stated that they recorded the unboxing process on video and submitted this evidence to Amazon. Nevertheless, after several days of investigation and despite the buyer's threat to escalate the case to consumer authorities, the company concluded that the delivered product was correct and closed the claim.

Beyond the video, irrefutable proof of the scam is the significant discrepancy in the package's weight. Amazon's own packaging indicated a weight of 1.56 kilograms, a figure implausible for an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU. The manufacturer's specifications state that the graphics card alone weighs over 2 kilograms, and with complete packaging, the weight increases to more than 3 kilograms. This means the delivered package weighed less than half of what it should have, suggesting tampering at some point in the company's logistics chain, even before shipment.

Additionally, it was noted that the seller listed for the GPU was 'FAB WORLD Point,' while the invoice was in the name of 'MOHD KHALID.' The invoice showed a 0% IGST (local tax), a crucial detail given that in India, computers and most IT components are subject to an 18% tax, a percentage that should have been reflected. A subsequent investigation by the buyer revealed that other users had left negative reviews reporting the same detergent scam.

This Incident Casts Doubt on the Safety of Buying Hardware on Amazon

The true significance of this news lies not in the scam itself, but in Amazon's inaction to protect the GeForce RTX 5090 buyer. Despite having evidence such as the unboxing video and the clear weight discrepancy of the package, which was less than half of what was expected, the customer was left unprotected and lost their investment. While hardware scams are becoming increasingly common, what truly changes the landscape is this lack of consumer protection, leaving the customer helpless.

Amazon actively promotes its consumer protection systems for cases of damaged, defective, or incorrect products. Their help guides detail how customers can initiate return, replacement, or refund claims through the A-to-Z guarantee from their order history. However, this incident exposes a clear contradiction between the company's advertised protection policies and its final decision to deny the user a refund.