Following reports over the weekend that an Nvidia RTX 5090 shipment worth $470,000 was stolen from a Brazilian airport, a contraband graphics card linked to the shipment has shown up for sale online. Brazilian media also reports that the police and airport authorities have identified three employees thought to have been involved in the heist, according to GMC. (Machine translated)
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According to the report, Guarulhos International Airport has issued a statement confirming that "The investigation of the facts is the responsibility of the competent authorities to clarify the circumstances of what happened." A Brazilian TV news network appears to have identified one of the cards, a Zotac Gaming RTX 5090 for sale on the online marketplace OLX for over $6,000. Quite unfortunately, the reseller uploaded clear pictures of the card's serial number, linking it to the missing haul of graphics cards. Per the report, there is no information to identify the seller, and the listing appears to have since been taken down.
However, police information reported by the outlet does reveal a chain of events and some possible suspects in the case. The shipment, imported from the United States and thought to be worth nearly $500,000, arrived in Brazil on September 20 and was registered with customs on September 24. The two pallets went missing after being authorized for release on September 25. Police believe "two outsourced forklift operators" removed the pallets from the warehouse on September 21, an act apparently recorded by CCTV.
Police state the equipment was loaded onto a truck and hasn't been seen since. A third "checker" employee is said to have released the merchandise from the system to pass through electronic controls.
The RTX 5090 is the world's best consumer gaming GPU, but high demand for AI compute has seen it all but disappear from conventional retail, with the card now fetching upwards of $10,000 in the few remaining marketplaces it can be found, nearly always offered by third-party sellers. As such, an idle, unguarded shipment of such cards would make ripe pickings for thieves, a tempt
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Stephen is Tom's Hardware's News Editor with almost a decade of industry experience covering technology, having worked at TechRadar, iMore, and even Apple over the years. He has covered the world of consumer tech from nearly every angle, including supply chain rumors, patents, and litigation, and more. When he's not at work, he loves reading about history and playing video games.
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