At the beginning of the year, it was revealed that Apple had been scammed out of more than 2 million euros, and surprisingly, the company thanked the hacker for showcasing his skill in finding vulnerabilities. However, to the dismay of the American company, two men have been convicted for carrying out a deception scheme that ultimately resulted in losses of over 2 million euros for the company.
As stated by the Ars Technica portal in a recent publication, Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue carried out this system between 2017 and 2019. However, the penalties are not the same for both: Sun, the mastermind of the operation, was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay over 1 million euros to Apple; and Xue, his accomplice, will serve 54 months behind bars and pay a fine of 350,000 euros. However, both will serve three years of probation and will have to give up more money as part of the sentence.
They deceived Apple with thousands of fake devices
The scheme, as indicated in the original news, involved deceiving Apple by sending fake phones, altering the serial numbers or IMEI to make them look like real iPhones under warranty. Thanks to this, they managed to fool Apple into believing that the phones were covered by the warranty and Apple decided to replace the devices as part of the coverage. The scammers would send fake phones from China and, in return, receive real iPhones from Apple by mail or in person.
After two years, an Apple investigator alerted the authorities about the scheme, leading to the interception of packages and confirmation that thousands of phones had been counterfeited. As a result, the two men were convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, charges that arose from an investigation by postal inspectors and the DOJ. Both will have to pay the fines imposed by the sentence and also comply with three years of probation.
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