In the USA, two fraudsters replaced 6,000 fake iPhone smartphones with original Apple warranty

In the USA, the fraudsters who defrauded Apple of more than 2.5 million dollars were sentenced.

The US Department of Justice announced the sentences of two fraudsters who organized a large-scale scam with counterfeit iPhones, causing Apple company losses of more than 2.5 million dollars. 34-year-oldHaotian Sun and Pengfei Xue during 2017-2019 replaced about 6,000 fake smartphones with real ones, using Apple warranty programs.

Sung was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution to Apple, while Xue was sentenced to 54 months in prison and fined $397,000. After their release, both fraudsters will be supervised for three years.

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The essence of the scheme was to falsify serial numbers and IMEI numbers on fake iPhones that corresponded to real devices under warranty. Apple mistakenly replaced these fakes with original phones. The criminal activity was uncovered in 2019 thanks to a joint effort between Apple security and investigators, who began intercepting counterfeit devices mailed from China.

Fraudsters avoided detection by using pseudonyms and different mailing addresses. Investigators, tracking their actions, collected evidence through the analysis of parcels, IMEI and Apple data, which allowed to uncover the scheme and bring the perpetrators to justice.