Two Maryland Residents Tried to Scam Apple Out of Millions… and Now They’re Going to Jail
Well, folks, it seems like two bright sparks in Maryland thought they could outsmart the tech giant Apple. Their brilliant plan? To swap out fake iPhones for the real deal, a classic bait-and-switch if you will. Except, it didn’t quite work out the way they hoped.
Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue, both Chinese nationals, were sentenced to more than four years in prison for their audacious attempt to defraud Apple out of over $2.5 million worth of iPhones. That’s right, folks, they tried to pull a fast one on a company worth trillions and ended up behind bars. You’ve got to admire the ambition, if not the execution.
Their scheme, which ran for a glorious two years, involved sending in counterfeit iPhones to Apple stores and authorized service providers. They even went so far as to use fake serial numbers, hoping to slip these knock-offs past the Apple geniuses. And they almost got away with it! Over 6,000 fake iPhones were sent in. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end, especially when those good things involve potentially scamming millions from one of the most powerful companies in the world.
So, what’s the takeaway here, folks? Maybe stick to legitimate repair services if your iPhone’s acting up. Or, you know, just don’t try to defraud multi-billion dollar corporations. Seems like sound advice to me.
From the sales floor to the critic's corner, I'm a former Apple Sales Specialist who's not afraid to tell it like it is. Get my honest takes on the iPhone, Mac, and everything Apple. | Los Angeles, California.