Security News > 2024 > February > Duo face 20 years in prison over counterfeit iPhone scam

Two Chinese nationals are facing a maximum of 20 years in prison after being convicted of mailing thousands of fake iPhones to Apple for repair in the hope they'd be replaced with new handsets.

The Department of Justice says the pair submitted upwards of 5,000 "Inauthentic" iPhones to the tech giant "Intending to cause a loss of more than $3 million to Apple" between May 2017 and September 2019.

Apple runs a one-year warranty scheme on its iPhones and offers to exchange malfunctioning products for shiny new ones.

In a statement, the DoJ confirmed that along with their unnamed co-conspirators, the pair were sent "Counterfeit iPhones to Apple for repair to get Apple to exchange them with genuine replacement iPhones."

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A bunch of people were indicted in 2019 in California for tricking Apple into taking back nearly 10,000 counterfeit smartphones and iPads and swapping them with legitimate hardware.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/02/21/counterfeit_iphone_scam/