Duo That Cost Apple $2.5 Million in Fraudulent iPhone Repair Scheme Get Prison Sentences

Two Maryland residents who defrauded Apple out of 6,000 iPhones worth over $2.5 million were sentenced to prison today, according to the United States Department of Justice. The duo devised a repair scheme where they sent in counterfeit iPhones in order to get genuine iPhones in exchange.

iPhone 14 Yellow Feature 2
Chinese nationals Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue will each spend more than four years in prison. Sun was sentenced to 57 months in prison, while Xue was given 54 months. Both will serve three years of supervised release after their prison terms, and will need to pay restitution to Apple. Sun has been ordered to pay $1,072,000, while Xue has been ordered to pay $397,800.

Between May 2017 and September 2019, Sun and Xue received shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong, and used spoofed serial numbers and/or IMEI numbers to return them to Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers. Over 6,000 iPhones were submitted to Apple during that two-year period, according to trial evidence. The intended loss was approximately $3.8 million, and actual loss exceeded $2.5 million.

Back in February, Sun and Xue were found guilty of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, charges that carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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Top Rated Comments

roar08 Avatar
5 weeks ago

[sarcasm]
How dare anyone try to rip off Apple! It is morally wrong to rip off Apple, but it is morally right for Apple to rip off their customers. Tim Cook is a saint, as are ultra-rich Apple shareholders, and anyone who makes them lose money should be sentenced to prison.
[/sarcasm]
Not really sure what you were going for here, but I suspect that makes at least two of us.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
5 weeks ago
These ****ers made the Apple Stores in Hong Kong no longer accept returns since 2017.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lurker-Monkey Avatar
5 weeks ago
Don’t drop the soap


Attachment Image
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Darren.h Avatar
5 weeks ago
Apple will never see their money from these 2.

They should have got 10 years. with just 4 they will be out in less than 2 years.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dmr727 Avatar
5 weeks ago
Play stupid games....
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roar08 Avatar
5 weeks ago
Fraud around and find out.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)