Duo That Defrauded Apple Out of 5,000 iPhones With Repair Scheme Could Spend Up to 20 Years in Prison
Two Maryland residents that tried to defraud Apple out of 5,000 iPhones worth millions of dollars were today found guilty of mail fraud. Chinese nationals Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue masterminded a scheme to get Apple to exchange genuine iPhones for counterfeit iPhones sent in for repair.
Between May 2017 and September 2019, Sun and Xue received shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong, using spoofed serial numbers and/or IMEI numbers to return them to Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers.
More than 5,000 total iPhones were submitted to Apple during that two year period.
The two have been found guilty of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and are facing a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Sentencing will take place on June 21, 2024.
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