Wuhan thieves arrested for swapping RTX 5080 GPUs in esports hotels

Two men have been arrested in Wuhan, China, for a series of thefts targeting high-end graphics cards at esports hotels. The suspects allegedly targeted rooms equipped with expensive NVIDIA RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 GPUs.

To avoid detection, the thieves would swap the high-end components with cheaper RTX 3060 cards. Because the replacement cards allowed the systems to function normally, the thefts often went unnoticed by hotel staff and subsequent guests. The scheme was reportedly uncovered following a power outage on July 18, which prompted an investigation that revealed pry marks on computer cases.

Local police arrested the suspects in the Guangbutun electronics district on July 20. The suspects reportedly admitted to carrying out the crime four previous times, with total reported losses reaching approximately 80,000 Yuan (roughly $12,000).