Grand Theft GPU: Thief steals GPUs worth over $11,000 mimicking trend seen during Covid-era chip shortage

We got Grand Theft GPU before Grand Theft Auto 6. A man has stolen desktop GPUs worth 16 million Won, or around $11,171, from a store in Korea’s Gyeonggi Province. The story, which may seem ordinary at first glance, has impeccable timing, as the GPU market is currently experiencing a rough phase. With inflated memory prices and Nvidia’s alleged supply cut, the prices of desktop GPUs like the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and the RTX 5070 Ti have gone considerably above MSRP.

We saw similar stories unfold during the COVID era, when lockdowns and industrial shutdowns led to a debilitating chip shortage. The chip shortage made everything, from cars to desktop GPUs, quite expensive. The cryptocurrency price boom also made the situation even worse. And this was the perfect time for criminals to act.

One of the most memorable GPU thefts of recent memory occurred in October 2021 when a truck full of EVGA RTX 30 series cards was stolen in California. As a consequence, EVGA, which has sadly stopped making graphics cards since then, blacklisted the stolen GPUs from warranty services.

Just like the 2021 GPU heist, it is reasonable to assume that the rising prices of GPUs, especially cards with 16 GB or more VRAM, served as the catalyst for the latest GPU theft. These stolen boards will surely end up in the hands of scalpers, who will then sell them on platforms like eBay at significant price premiums.

If you are in the process of buying a GPU, ensure that you get one from a well-established and reputable seller, rather than a random scalper. Sure, GPUs like the RTX 5070 Ti have gone up in price, but cheaper alternatives like the RX 9070 exist.

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