A smuggling gang wanted to smuggle Nvidia graphics cards into China and hid the GPUs in a box of lobsters. But things went wrong.
The Chinese police intercepted a truck that was trying to smuggle graphics cards into the country. The GPUs worth 70,000 Euros were hidden in a box with large lobsters.
As The Register reports, the vehicle was intercepted last week (end of April). However, the officers found a strange cargo, which included not only live lobsters but also 70 Nvidia graphics cards. The Register humorously noted that the combination of seafood and graphics cards was somehow odd – “unless the delivery was meant for a fancy restaurant where seafood is grilled on old GPUs.”
The authorities in Hong Kong estimated the value of the graphics cards at $76,500. That translates to about 70,000 Euros. However, particularly interesting is the type of graphics cards that were to be smuggled across the border. Because they are not gaming graphics cards, which are currently in high demand.
No real gaming graphics cards
What exactly was smuggled? According to various statements, the smuggled GPUs are said to be Nvidia Quadro graphics cards. In the pictures, the Nvidia logo and the lettering “Quadro” are clearly visible. Such GPUs are mainly installed and used in workstations.
Some of the graphics cards are already a few years old and do not reach the performance and capabilities of a modern RTX graphics card and are not really used for gaming.
Why are so many people smuggling? Despite heavy penalties, smugglers keep trying to bring hardware into China. This is mainly due to the value-added tax of 13% that must be paid in China. Many smugglers find the risk worth it to transport hardware through various means into the big country in the east. Sometimes it goes so far that fraudsters want to smuggle goods that could equip an entire small town.
The ingenuity knows no bounds:
- SSDs are installed in electric scooters and smuggled.
- CPUs are brought through customs in fake baby bellies.
- Others try to transport hundreds of graphics cards across the sea in a film-like manner and engage in a chase with the police.
However, all these attempts have one thing in common: the authorities catch the fraudsters and the images of them end up on the internet. Also as a warning of what happens to such people.
How many people succeed with their smuggling operation is not known, as such figures are, unsurprisingly, not published. However, the authorities regularly report that they repeatedly catch people trying to get through with expensive hardware.
And people sometimes use the craziest methods to get hardware past customs:
A guy wants to smuggle 239 gaming processors and then makes a really stupid mistake at customs
