Chinese students tricked Apple by almost $1 million

Two Chinese students developed and implemented a fraud scheme that allowed them receiving $895 800 from Apple.

Yangyang Zhou and Quan Jiang that studied engineering in Oregon College regularly ordered fake iPhones on the Internet. When they received phones, they complained in Apple office that devices do not work properly. Apple replaced counterfeit mobile phones with new original ones. Next, fraudsters shipped licensed iPhones to Chine where their accomplices sold them.

“Jiang estimated that during 2017, he submitted 2,000 telephones to Apple for warranty repairs,” — report court documents.

Federal agents in Portland noted the scheme after Customs and Border Protection Service withdrawn five parties of mobile phones from Hong Kong with Apple logo that turned out to be fake.

Criminals took advantage on company’s load that did not allow checking supposedly damaged devices.

According to Apple, from investigated fraudsters’ address were sent 3 069 iPhones. Apple exchanged some 1 493 of them while the rest were considered counterfeit.

Students face federal charges in an alleged counterfeit.

Source: https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/04/counterfeit-apple-iphone-scam-tied-to-china-oregon-college-students-feds-allege.html