October 3, 2024 at 12:36PM
Two Chinese nationals, Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue, along with co-conspirators Wen Jin Gao and Dian Luo, were sentenced to prison for scamming Apple out of over $2.5 million by exchanging more than 6,000 counterfeit iPhones for authentic ones. They exploited Apple’s replacement policy, used fake identification cards and driver’s licenses, and shipped the replacement iPhones back to Hong Kong for sale. Sun and Xue were convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, with Sun sentenced to 57 months in prison and Xue receiving a 54-month prison sentence. They were also ordered to pay restitution to Apple.
Based on the provided meeting notes, a summary of the situation could be as follows:
Two Chinese nationals, Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue, along with their co-conspirators, Wen Jin Gao and Dian Luo, were involved in a scheme to scam Apple out of more than $2.5 million. They exploited Apple’s device replacement policy by exchanging over 6,000 counterfeit iPhones for authentic ones. The counterfeit iPhones were shipped from Hong Kong to the United States and then submitted to Apple retail stores and Authorized Service Providers with spoofed identification and serial numbers. Apple sent them replacement iPhones, which were then shipped back to Hong Kong and sold, with the proceeds being shared among the conspirators. As a result of this fraudulent activity, Sun and Xue were arrested by U.S. postal inspectors and convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. They were sentenced to 57 months and 54 months in prison, respectively, and were ordered to pay Apple substantial amounts in restitution.