Urgent.News

What's breaking now, across thousands of outlets.

Tech

Redditor unknowingly buys stolen rental PC, and it gets remotely blocked by rental firm

Fragile, NZXT's PC rental partner, helped a Redditor who got scammed into buying a "stolen" computer that eventually got blocked by replacing it with a new one.

Redditor unknowingly buys stolen rental PC, and it gets remotely blocked by rental firm

A Redditor named u/cal93 unknowingly purchased a stolen rental PC for $650 from an unnamed seller on OfferUp. The rental firm, Fragile, which is a partner of NZXT, detected this irregularity when the user downloaded a Windows update. Fragile reached out to u/cal93, informing them that the PC they bought was actually a rental and not owned by the seller. They stated that the seller had no right to sell the PC, and the user would need to return the stolen device to the police.

NZXT's Flex subscription program, which provides PCs on a rental basis, began in 2024. However, it faced challenges about a year into its operation, culminating in a RICO lawsuit in California. This lawsuit resulted in a $3.45 million settlement for affected customers. The incident with u/cal93, where they unknowingly bought a stolen rental PC, can be seen as a rare win for the user, as well as positive feedback for NZXT and Fragile.

The Redditor expressed satisfaction with the resolution, stating they would now receive a replacement PC to replace the one they were scammed on. Fragile also mentioned that they would pursue the seller of the rental NZXT PC.

Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

Read the original at tomshardware.com →

More in Tech

More from Monday 12 October →