Apple was the victim of a scam: two students managed to divert nearly a million dollars by having it repair since 2017, fake iPhones. Their trick? Send tons of counterfeit iPhone to Apple's after sales service saying they will not turn on anymore. In exchange, the firm sent them real replacement iPhone that were then sold at a high price. In all the firm has "given" 1493 iPhones, before becoming aware of the sham.
Apple is rarely scammed, which does not mean it never happens. Two students from Oregon (USA) of Chinese descent, Yangyang Zhou, and Quan Jiang, are accused of having cheated the firm of a total of 895,800 dollars (according to one estimate) since 2017. They imported cardboard boxes. counterfeit iPhone from China, then entrusted them to the Apple official SAV claiming that it was official iPhone broken or no longer lighting.
In such cases, it often happens that after-sales service simply returns a replacement iPhone. Thus the forgers managed to exchange their counterfeit devices for authentic devices. They were then sent back to the source of the counterfeit smartphones in China who deposited in exchange for money on the account of Quan Jian's mother to whom the students had access from the United States. More than 3,000 fake iPhone were entrusted to the Apple Customer Service that students contacted in several ways (online or via different Apple Stores).
Apple sent them no less than 1493 genuine iPhone, before realizing the deception. Apple knew from the summer of 2017 that something was wrong and sent Quan Jiang letters of formal notice to stop this traffic - letters remained unanswered ... Until a request for student visa is denied because of the alerts surrounding their actions. Yangyang Zhou's lawyer nevertheless believes that his client will be "whitewashed" because "he did not know that the iPhone that was sent to him [...] were counterfeit," says PhoneArena. The latter claims to have received only a "small percentage" for this service.
Quan Jiang is accused of fraud and counterfeiting. It remains to be seen whether Apple will - or not - recover its iPhone that is now in nature ...
How two students managed to rip off Apple
In such cases, it often happens that after-sales service simply returns a replacement iPhone. Thus the forgers managed to exchange their counterfeit devices for authentic devices. They were then sent back to the source of the counterfeit smartphones in China who deposited in exchange for money on the account of Quan Jian's mother to whom the students had access from the United States. More than 3,000 fake iPhone were entrusted to the Apple Customer Service that students contacted in several ways (online or via different Apple Stores).
Apple sent them no less than 1493 genuine iPhone, before realizing the deception. Apple knew from the summer of 2017 that something was wrong and sent Quan Jiang letters of formal notice to stop this traffic - letters remained unanswered ... Until a request for student visa is denied because of the alerts surrounding their actions. Yangyang Zhou's lawyer nevertheless believes that his client will be "whitewashed" because "he did not know that the iPhone that was sent to him [...] were counterfeit," says PhoneArena. The latter claims to have received only a "small percentage" for this service.
Quan Jiang is accused of fraud and counterfeiting. It remains to be seen whether Apple will - or not - recover its iPhone that is now in nature ...
