Because of course this happened - EVGA Reports That a Shipment of its GPUs Has Been Stolen

[CT854]

Summary

 In a stunning twist of fate in the certifiably worst timeline, EVGA has reported through its forums that a shipment of its graphics cards was stolen off a truck en route to their Southern California distribution center. EVGA has indicated that they are aware of the serial numbers of the cards and intends to void their warranties.

 

Quotes

Quote

 On Tuesday, EVGA posted about the theft in the company’s online forums. “PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on October 29, 2021, a shipment of EVGA GeForce RTX 30-Series Graphics Cards was stolen from a truck en route from San Francisco to our Southern California distribution center,” the vendor wrote. 

 

We’ve reached out to EVGA for more details. But based on the pricing, the vendor lost numerous graphics card models ranging from the Nvidia RTX 3060 to the RTX 3090. 

 

Nevertheless, the thief will almost certainly try to resell the stolen graphics cards at a time when demand for GPUs remain sky high. For the past year now, scalpers on eBay have been reselling Nvidia RTX 3000 products often for double the normal pricing. 

 

If a consumer does purchase one of these stolen cards, prepare to face some bad news. EVGA is indicating it knows the serial numbers of every GPU stolen, and plans on cutting off the warranty services for them.

 

However, consumers are reacting to the theft by calling on EVGA to publish the serial numbers for the stolen graphics cards. “That way you will protect innocent people from being sold stolen property,” one user wrote in response.

 

My thoughts

In a shockingly unshocking turn of events, these cards are going to hit the secondary market with gimped warranties. As if we needed more reasons to not buy from the secondary market. I do wonder what went wrong this time in particular that led to this happening...

 

Sources

PCMag

IGN

[Spotty]

Quote

“These graphics cards are in high demand and each has an estimated retail value starting at $329.99 up to $1959.99,” the company added. 

So it was a shipment of GT 1030's and GTX 1660ti's then?

/s

[Lurick]

8 minutes ago, Spotty said:

So it was a shipment of GT 1030's and GTX 1660ti's then?

/s

GTX 1050 2GBs

[Skiiwee29]

6 minutes ago, Lurick said:

GTX 1050 2GBs

DDR4 edition. 

[Arika]

inb4 the conspiracy nuts show up and say that EVGA (or NVidia) "stole" their own cards to keep availability down and prices up

[Moonzy]

Wondering if it's fair for EVGA to just void the warranty like that

I don't think the end user is at fault (unless of course they're the one that stole it)

 

But if this will make users ask for serial number for checking before purchasing, then it may help them track the thief

[porina]

18 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

Wondering if it's fair for EVGA to just void the warranty like that

Warranty is usually offered only to properly sold cards. Product stolen before initial sale would fall outside that, and it serves to possibly devalue the cards to the thief. Regular scalpers might supply proof of original purchase.

[OhioYJ]

16 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

Wondering if it's fair for EVGA to just void the warranty like that

I don't think the end user is at fault (unless of course they're the one that stole it)

 

But if this will make users ask for serial number for checking before purchasing, then it may help them track the thief

I think so. If you are buying cards (or anything for that matter) from a scalper you are part of the problem. Not to mention many products don't have a warranty if you don't buy them through an authorized retailer anyways. 

 

Hopefully they offer some sort of tool to quickly check serial numbers now.

[TetraSky]

16 minutes ago, porina said:

Warranty is usually offered only to properly sold cards. Product stolen before initial sale would fall outside that, and it serves to possibly devalue the cards to the thief. Regular scalpers might supply proof of original purchase.

Some manufacturer also refuse invoices from places like ebay and other "unauthorized resellers" when it comes to warranty. I'm guessing because they can't prove they weren't stolen or something.

[InstantNewt]

51 minutes ago, Arika S said:

inb4 the conspiracy nuts show up and say that EVGA (or NVidia) "stole" their own cards to keep availability down and prices up

Nah, it was obviously 3 black Hondas with green under glow that boosted a truck. Main suspect is probably Dominic Torreto and his team.

[Arika]

3 minutes ago, InstantNewt said:

Nah, it was obviously 3 black Hondas with green under glow that boosted a truck. Main suspect is probably Dominic Torreto and his team.

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, James Evens said:

TL;DR Way to complicated to check before buying.

 

33 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

I think so. If you are buying cards (or anything for that matter) from a scalper you are part of the problem. Not to mention many products don't have a warranty if you don't buy them through an authorized retailer anyways. 

 

Hopefully they offer some sort of tool to quickly check serial numbers now.

https://www.evga.com/warranty/check.asp ?

[IPD]

I never would have imagined that the plot to Fast and Furious 1 would come true in the world of GPU's.

 

At what point will these show up on the Homeboy Shopping Network?

[IPD]

14 minutes ago, InstantNewt said:

Nah, it was obviously 3 black Hondas with green under glow that boosted a truck. Main suspect is probably Dominic Torreto and his team.

Damn, he just beat me to it!

[Kilrah]

1 minute ago, James Evens said:

@Kilrah Not the first search result. Not even on the first screen page.

Not saying it's easy to find, just that it's there and was posted on their forum. 

https://forums.evga.com/Notice-of-Stolen-EVGA-GeForce-RTX-30Series-Graphics-Cards-m3490851.aspx

 

[Arika]

3 minutes ago, James Evens said:

@Kilrah Not the first search result. Not even on the first screen page.

 

To be fair, that's not necessarily EVGA's fault (no idea how you do SEO for bing, it's kind of an engima)

 

[Kilrah]

Oh I missed it being Bing... yeah I guess you can make a case for anything being hard to find if that's what you use 

[OneOfYas]

When Nvidia is so good, only their cards get stolen.

[StDragon]

"Stolen"

 

Was is really stolen via an act of aggression? Or was it simply misplaced or the truck driver picked the wrong load? With the shipping import/export being a complete unmitigated fiasco, I wouldn't be surprised if it's sitting in a container on the side of the road quite literally "ditched".

[da na]

3 hours ago, Arika S said:

inb4 the conspiracy nuts show up and say that EVGA (or NVidia) "stole" their own cards to keep availability down and prices up

Not in No Nut November. We're free from them for a month. 

[InstantNewt]

Having worked in an electronics store warehouse in a previous life, it’s interesting to see this actually happen. Trucks were always secured with a single use, numbered lock that you had to use bolt cutters to remove. The driver would hand you the shipping manifest, you confirm the lock number, then cut it off. If the lock wasn’t present or had a different number we were to refuse the entire shipment. 
 

EVGA and their distribution system might be doing it slightly different though. We used to get video cards drop shipped occasionally through FedEx or UPS which I guess would be the more likely spot for this to happen. Someone could have grabbed a box off a delivery truck, or the carrier could have lost it in transit. 
 

Either way, I choose to believe Dom has been carrying on for 20 years and has upgraded from stealing VCRs to RTX cards.  

[StDragon]

4 minutes ago, James Evens said:

* lockpickinglawyer enters the room *

I dunno. If they're anything like in the link below, those are one-time connections that have to be cut free.

 

https://www.labelmaster.com/shop/seals/bolt-seals

Edited November 4, 2021 by StDragon

[InstantNewt]

4 hours ago, StDragon said:

I dunno. If they're anything like in the link below, those are one-time connections that have to be cut free.

 

https://www.labelmaster.com/shop/seals/bolt-seals

Similar to those, yes. Basically a steel pin coated in plastic with a cap that can’t be pulled off and matching numbers on both the pin and the cap. Only way through is to destroy the seal.

 

3 hours ago, James Evens said:

Not sure if it was blackhat, CCC or anther conference. They manage to beat a lot of and tamper evident and proof (huge difference between those words) locks/seals including those used by law enforcement to "secure" evidence.

They’re made with a quarter inch steel pin that must be cut to open. They weren’t there to prevent people from getting in since they are easily cut with bolt cutters, they’re just there to show if someone had entered the trailer. 

[WereCat]

Maybe now they will learn from ASUS colab with Noctua and start making 4.5slot cards. 

 

Less of them will fit in the truck so they will have to send more trucks... what's the chance that all of them will get stolen from all trucks? 

[WolframaticAlpha]

8 hours ago, Arika S said:

inb4 the conspiracy nuts show up and say that EVGA (or NVidia) "stole" their own cards to keep availability down and prices up

Welp, looks like MLID lives 'nother day