Apple has finally ended the fake iPhone crisis. A user who caused the company $2.5 million in losses by warranting fake phones a few years ago has finally been arrested. So how did the US user fool Apple?
4 years in prison for defrauding Apple warranty with fake iPhone
A US user has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for orchestrating a fraud that defrauded Apple of more than $2.5 million with counterfeit iPhones. Haotian Sun, 34, launched the fraud scheme in 2017 by shipping more than 6,000 counterfeit iPhones from Hong Kong.
He sent these fake phones to Apple, claiming they were defective and needed to be replaced under warranty. Out-of-warranty components were inserted into the fake phones to circumvent Apple’s inspection process. They also used serial and IMEI numbers cloned from real iPhones.
When Apple employees checked the returned phones, they mistakenly thought the devices were real and eligible for replacement due to fake ID numbers. Sun used the scam to force Apple to send more than 2700 replacement iPhones between 2017 and 2019.
The court found that the fraud caused Apple more than $2.5 million in damages. Authorities became suspicious of Sun’s high warranty claims, launched an investigation and arrested him in late 2019. Sun was convicted of fraud in February and sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison by the US District Court.
Sun’s partner, Chinese Pengfei Xue, was similarly sentenced to over 4 years in prison for aiding the fraud scheme. Both users were also ordered to pay significant compensation to Apple. Sun will pay $53,610 and Xue will pay $397,800.
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