A Chinese national has been caught and arrested trying to defraud the company with fake iPhones.
Teang Liu was accused of returning fake iPhone devices and claiming that they legitimate devices under warranty, with the goal of getting a brand new and original iPhone.
The original iPhone units were then sent back overseas for selling to consumers.
Liu said he was recruited by Haiteng Wu, who was already sentenced to prison. Liu and the others used fake IDs and multiple mail receiving boxes to defraud the Cupertino-based company for over a million dollars.
When caught, Liu faced the prospect of jail and being charged huge fines due to his role in the scheme. In February 2021 Judge Sullivan handed out a year and day prison sentence and a restitution for roughly $58k.
Liu’s case was investigated by the US postal inspection service, Homeland Security and the US Department of Homeland Security.
