Amazon Ryzen 5 9600X Scam: PC Shop Gets Two Empty CPU Boxes

Two orders, two empty boxes

In late August, a computer repair and custom gaming PC shop in New York said it had received two empty retail boxes for AMD's Ryzen 5 9600X processor. Both came from Amazon, and the second arrived within days of the first. A co-owner of the store, PC Plug, described the problem in a Reddit post. The shop ordered the six-core chip and got the box without the CPU. It asked for a refund right away and reordered with next-day delivery. The second box was also empty.1 The shop called its missing processors the 9600X "Ghost Edition."

The shop's paperwork is what separates this case from the usual complaint about online shopping. PC Plug says it films every unboxing and keeps records for exactly this kind of dispute. It also says its security cameras caught both Amazon packages being opened and showed only the CPU boxes inside.1 Lowyat reports that the shop sent Amazon footage of the first opening, then filmed the second package the same way. The poster told TweakTown the videos made each refund go smoothly.15

A business buyer, not a bargain hunter

Many CPU scam stories involve open-box deals or heavily discounted returns. This one involves a steady business account buying new parts at full price. The co-owner told Tom's Hardware that the shop buys about 90% of its hardware inventory through Amazon, which comes to roughly $10,000 a month. He said this was the first time a product had arrived with no hardware in it, and it happened twice in three days.1 He also said that over the past five years, about ten packages had arrived damaged or missing a few parts.1

The mistake that let this happen was small. The shop normally buys from Amazon itself or from manufacturers' storefronts. This time, an inventory manager picked an offer from a third-party seller called "The Tech Group," whose orders Amazon fulfilled.110 The seller had decent ratings, though the co-owner suspects some of them were fake.1 Even after going public, the co-owner seemed more worried about his Amazon account than about the two missing chips. He told Tom's Hardware the attention could put the account at risk, and the business depends on Amazon Business Prime to buy inventory.1

That worry is the real story for businesses that order this way. A shop that relies on one platform for most of its supply is exposed in two directions: to fraud coming in, and to being flagged by that same platform's systems if it files too many claims. WindowsForum makes the related point that the 9600X is a relatively cheap chip. Staff time, delayed builds, promises to customers and possible account reviews can turn a missing $100-to-$200 part into a much bigger operating cost.13

Where the coverage agrees and where it splits

The outlets agree on the basic facts: two orders, two empty retail boxes, a third-party seller named The Tech Group, fulfillment by Amazon, and unboxing videos.1101516 They part ways on the details and on how far they're willing to assign blame.

Some details differ. WindowsForum places the shop in Buffalo and dates the first Reddit post to August 20 in r/PcBuild. It also points out that Wccftech's headline wrongly calls the chip a Ryzen 7 9600X, when the posts clearly name the Ryzen 5.13 The Wccftech headline does include that error.7 Outlets also spell the Reddit username differently. Tom's Hardware, TweakTown and PC Gamer use u/No-Yak977611516, while Wccftech and WindowsForum use No-Yak9976.713 None of this changes the story, but it shows how quickly a single Reddit post can pick up small errors as it gets passed from site to site.

The bigger split is over blame. VideoCardz says nothing shows where the processors went or who took them. It notes that the boxes may have entered Amazon's fulfillment network already empty, or that returned stock could be involved.10 Lowyat agrees, adding that the CPUs could have gone missing before they ever reached an Amazon warehouse. TweakTown also stays neutral and notes that Amazon had not commented on the case.15 WindowsForum is the most careful. It says the posts show a documented complaint, not an explanation. No order numbers, serial-number comparisons, package weights or seller response have been published, and no independent outlet has tied the missing chips to The Tech Group.13

Others go further. Overcentral describes the customer as believing the problem lies with The Tech Group rather than a warehouse mistake. It lists possible explanations: theft by a seller's employee, an earlier customer's fraudulent return that went back on sale unchecked, or deliberate shipping of empty boxes.4 PC Gamer suggests that because Amazon shipped the orders, someone in the Amazon warehouse may have looked at the CPU before it went out. It also mentions a 2024 complaint accusing the same seller of sending an empty box, while stopping short of saying the seller did it on purpose.16

The careful reading is the right one. Two empty boxes from the same marketplace listing within days is a pattern worth noting. But a fulfillment network where inventory passes through several hands, possibly including returns, can produce that pattern in more than one way. The videos show the boxes arrived empty. They can't show where the chips went before that.

Part of a long run of Amazon CPU problems

What makes the incident hard to dismiss is how often similar stories have appeared. Shoppers have reported AMD CPU fraud through Amazon for years, and the schemes have changed form along the way. In a 2023 Reddit thread, buyers of chips like the Ryzen 9 7950X said they received sealed but empty boxes. Some said this happened even on listings sold and shipped by Amazon, and that refunds took repeated calls.2

The schemes have grown more elaborate since then. In March 2025, a buyer who ordered a Ryzen 7 9800X3D found an old FX-4100 inside.8 In February 2026, a "like new" Ryzen 9 9900X3D bought through Amazon Warehouse turned out to be a much older Ryzen 9 3900X.3 In April, a buyer at an Amazon returns warehouse paid €163 for a Ryzen 9 9950X3D and got a 3D-printed base topped with a real heat spreader, with no CPU underneath.5 Coverage of that case blamed loose return checks that let fakes back into stock.9 In June, a buyer got an Intel Core i9-10900K inside a sealed Ryzen 7 9800X3D box.6 Tom's Hardware has also covered a brick delivered instead of an RTX 5080 and tied it to "commingling," where Amazon pools identical items from different sellers into shared inventory.

Commingling matters here. TweakTown reported that Amazon announced plans to phase out commingled inventory by March 2026, yet noted that swap scams were still showing up months later.6 It isn't confirmed whether commingling played any part in the 9600X orders. But the steady stream of cases since that deadline suggests that ending commingling alone hasn't closed the gaps.

What the case means for anyone ordering parts

The practical advice from the coverage is consistent. WindowsForum argues that "Fulfilled by Amazon" is not the same as "Sold by Amazon." It says the merchant listed on an expensive component deserves as much attention as the price or delivery date.13 PC Gamer recommends buying CPUs from Amazon itself or a familiar seller and filming the unboxing.16 Overcentral suggests some buyers may move to retailers such as Micro Center, B&H Photo or Newegg.4 TweakTown reports that the PC Plug poster plans to stop buying CPUs from third-party Amazon listings and keep filming every delivery.15

Buying directly from Amazon isn't a guarantee, though. Commenters in the 2023 thread said they received empty boxes on listings sold by Amazon or by AMD with Amazon fulfillment.2 One commenter on the Tom's Hardware story said Amazon had sold and shipped their order, yet the company opened an internal investigation and warned that a refund or replacement wasn't certain. The commenter said a follow-up email even claimed all items had been included.1

That's why the camera matters most. PC Plug didn't get its money back because it ordered from the right seller. It ordered from the wrong one and got its money back anyway, because it could prove what was in the box. For businesses ordering parts in volume, filming every opening is now simply part of the cost of buying through the marketplace. The case also highlights a gap: until Amazon can show what happened to the chips, customers carry the burden of proof.