Amazon has said it is investigating reports that new PlayStation 5 consoles have been stolen in transit, as customers have complained of missing deliveries, and bags of grain or tins of cat food delivered instead of the electronics.

Supply shortages have left the new games console even more desirable than its £450 price tag would suggest. But some shoppers waiting at home for the console to be delivered received an unwelcome surprise on Thursday and Friday, opening their parcels to find something other than the item they ordered.

Although the boxes were delivered, some Twitter users did not find their expected console. One found it had instead been replaced by a bag of grain, another by a George Foreman grill, and one found cat food. Other shoppers have complained that their packages were marked as delivered even though they had not received anything.

A number of prominent figures in the games industry also failed to get their devices. MTV journalist Bex May, for instance, was delivered an air frier rather than the expected console – a discovery she made on-camera, as she had expected to film a video of herself unboxing the new machine.

In a statement, Amazon acknowledged the wave of complaints, and said it was investigating what had happened.

“We’re all about making our customers happy, and that hasn’t happened for a small proportion of these orders,” a spokesman said. “We’re really sorry about that and are investigating exactly what’s happened. We’re reaching out to every customer who’s had a problem and made us aware so we can put it right. Anyone who has had an issue with any order can contact our customer services team for help.”

The news broke as Amazon received continued criticism for its refusal to clamp down on scalpers on its platform. The company sold most of its consoles as pre-orders in September, and added a limited allocation to the platform at 1pm on Thursday, which sold out in minutes. Since then, other Amazon sellers have added their own stock, at vastly inflated prices of up to £2,000, as well as turning to eBay, where a mark-up of £200 or more is common.

• This article was amended on 23 November 2020. An earlier version incorrectly referred to a bag of rice, rather than grain; George Foreman was misspelled as “Forman”; and the headline was amended for clarity.