Two folks have been discovered responsible of a “subtle scheme to defraud Apple out of thousands and thousands of {dollars}’ price of iPhones,” in response to the US Division of Justice. The rip-off was primarily based round submitting counterfeit iPhones to Apple for restore, which had been then changed by Apple with real iPhones.
In a press launch on Tuesday, the US Lawyer’s Workplace introduced that Haotian Solar, 33, and Pengfei Xue, 33, had been discovered responsible of the scheme by a federal jury. The 2 Chinese language nationals, who resided in Maryland, had been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud. They might resist 20 years in jail. Sentencing is scheduled for June 21, 2024.
In whole, Solar and Xue submitted greater than 5,000 faux iPhones to Apple over the course of two and a half years:
In keeping with the federal government’s proof, between Might 2017 and September 2019, Solar, Xue, and different conspirators defrauded Apple Inc. by submitting counterfeit iPhones to Apple for restore to get Apple to alternate them with real substitute iPhones. Solar and Xue acquired shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong at UPS mailboxes all through the D.C. Metropolitan space.
They then submitted the faux iPhones, with spoofed serial numbers and/or IMEI numbers, to Apple retail shops and Apple Licensed Service Suppliers, together with the Apple Retailer in Georgetown. Trial proof confirmed that conspirators submitted greater than 5,000 inauthentic telephones to Apple throughout the conspiracy, desiring to trigger a lack of greater than $3 million to Apple.
This isn’t the primary time a restore rip-off like this has made headlines and led to an arrest. Actually, it’s just about the precise identical technique that has been utilized by different fraudsters up to now.
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