© Lemon squeezer
Three brothers played with Apple for a while, smuggling 10,000 fake iPhones and iPads to get their hands on real products and resell them in China. In total, the scammers made $6.1 million from this scam. This represents around 5.6 million euros. A colossal figure that is enough to anger the Cupertino company.
Today, the three brothers have been caught by American justice. While two of them had already received 41 months in prison last year, the third thief, Zhiwei “Allen” Liao, has just received his sentence: 51 months in prison.
But how could they scam Apple like this ? The Liao brothers' scam, although simple in appearance, was very well rehearsed.
Counterfeits and serial numbers
To rip off Apple, the Liao brothers used counterfeits straight from China. 10,000 fake iPhones and iPads were imported, closely resembling authentic products. The counterfeiters have even (and especially) thought about the serial numbers. The fake iPhones and iPads thus had existing identification numbers belonging to real devices in the United States or Canada.
Accomplices of the scammers then went to several Apple Stores to complain about their new iPhone or their brand new iPad which no longer works. Thanks to the serial numbers, the fake devices were still under warranty. So, Apple replaced fake iPads and iPhones with authentic ones, without batting an eyelid or asking any more questions. All that remained for the thugs to do was resell these real iPhones in China and make a nice profit.
In total, the three Liao brothers were able to collect $6.1 million thanks to this clever scam. In addition to the 51 months in prison, Zhiwei “Allen” Liao also had his two residences, more than $120,000 and 200 Apple devices confiscated. Currently, this is the most lucrative Apple scam. It seems that the Cupertino company had noticed this scam but for lack of culprits, was content to replace the counterfeits with real devices. And so on…
- Three brothers were at the head of the most lucrative Apple scam
- They caused the Cupertino company to lose more than 6 million dollars
- They managed to replace iPhone and iPad by counterfeits
📍 To not miss any news from Presse-citron, follow us on Google News and WhatsApp.
[ ]