Apple has always been characterized by offering something. Above average customer service. The company generally pays great attention to its customers, especially when they use a device’s warranty. But it can be used for evil and cost you millions of dollars. fake iPhone returns.

A new case has emerged in California, where five people have been arrested for an alleged $12.3 million fraud involving fraudulent returns of fake iPhones and other Apple devices.

Those arrested are accused of stealing more than $12 million in goods by taking advantage of Apple’s customer service policies.

Using Apple’s good policy to scam them could be expensive

An Apple Store experience is usually quite pleasant, even if you arrive with a problem. In the nearly 15 years I’ve been using Apple devices, I’ve had to go back 4-5 times due to a problem and have always been very satisfied. Be it a coverage issue on the iPhone, a problem with the famous MacBook butterfly keyboard, or a battery degradation issue on the Apple Watch.

In all these cases, Apple repaired my devices without any problems, but even with some he could refuse. It’s clear that this goodwill from Apple was used to defraud the company, but in this particular case it looks like they at least managed to catch them.

They used Apple’s warranty to replace fake iPhones with real ones and then sell them

Five people were charged with fraud for attending this event fake iPhone refund scheme. We’ve seen these types of scams before, but in this case we’re dealing with a much larger scale that will cost Apple $12 million.

In this particular case scammers They used thousands of fake iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices to demand replacements. A scheme carried out by the defendants From December 2014 to March 2024. Defrauding the company of more than a million dollars a year by selling new replacement devices for almost 10 years.

Although it is true that it is not as easy as it seems, fake iPhones can sometimes be difficult to detect. The fake models used ID numbers belonging to real users and stolen from real devices covered by AppleCare warranty. So it’s not as simple as buying a fake iPhone and taking it to an Apple Store, whoever made that fake iPhone had to somehow get that real serial number and enter it into the iPhone.

This also means: Legitimate users of Apple devices with stolen serial numbers may have experienced problems accessing warranty During this period, your devices.

Scammers have requested repairs at multiple Apple stores in California; He visited as many as ten stores in a single day, using fake addresses and names. Now they are facing each other 22 charges that could lead to years in prison.

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