Maybe don’t try to gyp one of the most powerful tech companies in the world.
Two college students from Oregon have been charged for allegedly scamming almost $900,000 from Apple thanks to an elaborate counterfeit iPhone scheme. This involved fooling Apple Care representatives into giving them an original iPhone in exchange for a fake one.
Quan Jiang and Yangyang Zhou, the two students involved in the scheme, apparently began shipping counterfeit iPhones to the US from Hong Kong way back in 2017. The two would send these fake iPhones to Apple, saying that they’re broken and wouldn’t turn on. Since the phones are still covered by Apple’s warranty, the tech company would then send new and original iPhones back to the two, which they would ship overseas and sell for a profit. Once the deed is done, an associate of theirs would give their share to Jiang’s mother, who would send the money to Jiang’s bank account.
The scheme was caught when customs officers searched through ‘suspicious’ shipments that had Apple logos on them. According to the documents retrieved from the tech company, 1,493 out of the 3,069 iPhones the two sent for repair were sent back with a replacement. Over the course of more than 2 years, this adds up to an estimated $895,800 worth of iPhones scammed out of Apple.
Zhou is being charged with submitting false export declarations and Jiang is being charged with counterfeit goods trafficking and wire fraud.
