This is a Reddit post packaged as a news piece without any independent investigation done by reporting website. Someone could have been scammed or robbed but it’s also possible that this post a scam against retailer as well.
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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Eh, I do think it's a worthwhile article, because it highlights that retailers should be using plain boxes for shipping high value items, and also advises that people open high value items on video, just in case.
How would an independent investigation prove anything further?
Not publishing unverifiable claims from anonymous sources is an option too. I understand news pieces like „we’re seeing an uptick in people claiming X” but this is just one random guy making a post on Reddit.
I wish we'd stop writing "news" articles about reddit posts. There's no proof anywhere that this is truthful, and no, pictures don't lend credence. I have a gpu box right now I can put rocks in for sensationalism.
also the rocks weigh way more than a gpu, so the ups or post office would have a record of that
Hey you're me
if we combine forces… stuff
There’s no proof anywhere that this is truthful, and no, pictures don’t lend credence.
What would you accept as proof then? Because to me it sounds like this logic implies nothing can be proven at all, ever.
Ah yeah, the old "a picture isn't enough proof so they think everything is false" argument.
You'd make a great lawyer.
My point was taking a picture of a box of rocks doesn't prove the rocks were there before you opened the box. And if you disagree, explain your reasoning.
My point was taking a picture of a box of rocks doesn’t prove the rocks were there before you opened the box. And if you disagree, explain your reasoning.
Those rocks don't look igneous to me, so they have most likely been there for millions, if not billions of years before they opened the box
A billion year old rock inside a months-old box? #ooparts
This type of thing needs to be investigated in the real world. A picture and a reddit post won't crack the case lol
So you chargeback the purchase on your card, and never shop with the dying retailer again. Best Buy provides absolutely no service that is unique and unavailable elsewhere.
Correct. While a chargeback is a last resort, if the consumer is not lying, then Best Buy advertised a GeForce RTX 5080, but instead gave worthless rocks while taking the consumer's money. That is fraud and the consumer is well within his rights to seek a chargeback. Then the credit card company can seek the damages from the retailer, which they will almost certainly pay because they don't want an outside fraud investigation which could find them criminally liable. Of course when it is on them to investigate, they will find for themselves, take the money, and keep the product, and hope the consumer just goes away. A credit card company with its own lawyers will not, so at that point it's just good business sense to refund the money. It puts them at net zero anyway, as opposed to being up $1200. They were never at risk of being down $1200, which isn't that much for a company the size of Best Buy to fight for stealing from a consumer. They'll do it if they can get away with it, but if they can't, they'll cave.
"if the consumer is not lying, then Best Buy advertised a GeForce RTX 5080, but instead gave worthless rocks while taking the consumer's money."
Or alternatively, whoever was responsible for shipping did that, but that's not the customer's problem. The customer only has a contract with Best Buy, so if the GPU did get pinched in transit, then that's between Best Buy and the shipping company.
Charge backs are a super useful lever to pull when all else has failed. They're usually so rapidly resolved that I sometimes find myself wishing I could use them as a first resort and not have to deal with the merchant. Alas, that's not how it works, but it is nice to have a fallback.
I just placed my first ever charge back yesterday.
Ordered an item the seller miss filled the address and won't reply and the shipping agent (Amazon logistics) won't deal with me to fix it.
So I'm done
I remember some social engineering methods where people were doing did this. I wouldn't be surprised if the Redditor is trying to scam Best Buy and is using social media canceling tactics to get what they want.
Does that gpu really weigh as much as four rocks of that size?