A customer got scammed by a shady Amazon seller as he received a different item than what he ordered.
User Orders $1400 RTX 5080 From Amazon, Receives a Vacuum Mug With Phamplet With a Fake Amazon Email Address for Refund
Amazon scams do happen occasionally, and in some cases, it’s because of ordering from a third-party seller. It’s crucial to check whether a product is “sold” and “fulfilled” by Amazon, as this reduces the chances of any scams. Nonetheless, there are third-party sellers who have been doing shady business, buying fake ratings while misleading customers.
Looks like the Reddit user u/BransonArsen is one of the latest victims of such a scam. The user reports that he ordered an MSI Gaming RTX 5080 16G SUPRIM Liquid SOC edition from Amazon for nearly $1,400. For an RTX 5080, he already paid more than the base MSRP of the GPU, but he didn’t pay attention to whether the product was sold and fulfilled by Amazon.
After a few days, the package reached the user’s door, but instead of the GPU, he discovered a “vacuum mug” in the box. However, unlike recent GPU scams, the vacuum mug wasn’t packed inside a GPU box, but it was a generic package, which contained the vacuum mug alongside a pamphlet. Here’s where things get interesting, as the user discovers that the seller reportedly sent him the vacuum mug as a “gift”.
This might seem too good to be true as the phamplet said his order was going to arrive in a few days and in the meantime the seller was too generous to send him some free stuff. However, a closer look at the pamphlet reveals that what initially appears to be from Amazon is actually a scam sheet, as several details in its content clearly expose its fraudulent nature.
The pamphlet says the user should receive the GPU in about 7 days and explains why it takes 7 days to reach the customer. In the Note section, it mentions that if the user doesn’t want to wait, they can email “[email protected]”to get a full refund. In reality, this email address doesn’t belong to Amazon as evident from the email extension “.xyz”, which is often used by scammers.
This third-party seller is clearly misleading the customer into emailing the wrong email address in order to complete the return window so that he is stuck with that “free” vacuum mug. Thankfully, the user has taken the appropriate steps to initiate the refund, but he should have identified this fake listing by the brand name “Vividcrate”, which appears on the product page.
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications.
Sarfraz’s hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany’s Igor’s Lab.
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