Six people from New York have been charged with allegedly attempting fraudulent transactions at the Deer Park Apple Store near Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune. Lake County authorities tell the paper that the scheme is an "organized criminal enterprise."

deerparkapplestore
Last week, authorities learned that the scheme was being attempted at various Apple Stores in the Chicago area. The suspects were using stolen identities and credit card numbers throughout the country to make purchases, according to police.

Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, told the Chicago Tribune that the suspects would fly into O'Hare International Airport, rent a car, and immediately head to local Apple Stores to attempt the enterprise. Authorities began increasing patrols and surveillance around the Deer Park store after another store in Schaumburg was targeted. Between Wednesday and Sunday, six people attempted the scheme at the store. Police recovered $10,000 worth of stolen Apple products from the alleged suspects.

Covelli said the traveling scheme is not common with out-of-state individuals.

Top Rated Comments

44267547 Avatar
121 months ago
Link this charge with previous torrent site KAT being taken down, all Apple protects is the profit alone, and nothing more.
The only matter business care is money.
What else does Apple have to protect? It's called Loss Prevention and preventing loss with cooperating with Law Enforcement to assist in stopping those criminals involved. This was a great stop and believe me, their are more than six individuals involved, there are always more. These criminals would have continued their behavior until they were caught, as they have Nothing to lose.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HopefulHumanist Avatar
121 months ago
Will they ever implement Apple Pay? I don't think it's active in store…
It most certainly is active; I've used it a few times in Apple Stores now.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
subjonas Avatar
121 months ago
It's a pity that humanity will never find the cure for being young and foolish.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
121 months ago
So they got maybe max 5 MacBooks (pros, airs etc.(assuming varying configurations, not all highest priced)), 7-8 iPads depending on model or config. Or 7-12 iPhones Or a little of everything... For an "enterprise" specializing in theft, this kind of seems to be on the lean side for what they were targeting. Nice to hear they were caught though "coughs" "erm charged"
Being they were caught early on and not later, this would have continued to until they hit as many Apple Stores as possible. $10,000 is not much in terms of hardware, which easily could have approached $100,000 if they were not Apprehended. Not to mention the lives ruined with stolen identity, which is another level by itself. These are career criminals.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
first535353 Avatar
121 months ago
('https://www.macrumors.com/2016/07/25/fraud-scheme-chicago-apple-store/')


Six people from New York have been charged with allegedly attempting fraudulent transactions at the Deer Park Apple Store near Chicago, according ('http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-lake-county-apple-arrests-0726-20160725-story.html') to the Chicago Tribune. Lake County authorities tell the paper that the scheme is an "organized criminal enterprise."



Last week, authorities learned that the scheme was being attempted at various Apple Stores in the Chicago area. The suspects were using stolen identities and credit card numbers throughout the country to make purchases, according to police.

Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, told the Chicago Tribune that the suspects would fly into O'Hare International Airport, rent a car, and immediately head to local Apple Stores to attempt the enterprise. Authorities began increasing patrols and surveillance around the Deer Park store after another store in Schaumburg was targeted. Between Wednesday and Sunday, six people attempted the scheme at the store. Police recovered $10,000 worth of stolen Apple products from the alleged suspects.

Covelli said the traveling scheme is not common with out-of-state individuals.

Article Link: Authorities Charge 6 in Chicago Apple Store Traveling Fraud Scheme ('https://www.macrumors.com/2016/07/25/fraud-scheme-chicago-apple-store/')
OMG I LIVE 7 MINUTES FROM DEER PARK IL!!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nickmcpherson97 Avatar
121 months ago
So they got maybe max 5 MacBooks (pros, airs etc.(assuming varying configurations, not all highest priced)), 7-8 iPads depending on model or config. Or 7-12 iPhones Or a little of everything... For an "enterprise" specializing in theft, this kind of seems to be on the lean side for what they were targeting. Nice to hear they were caught though "coughs" "erm charged"
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...