Man Sentenced to 26 Months Over Defrauding Conspiracy Worth $1 Million Towards Apple; Hundreds of Fake iPhones Replaced

Urian B., Tech Times 02 February 2022, 10:02 am

A man was served a 26-month sentence for his involvement in a conspiracy designed to defraud Apple out of $1 million through trying to replace "hundreds of fake iPhones with authentic handsets."

Haiteng Wu Tricked Apple Into Replacing $1 Million Worth of iPhones

The 32-year-old Haiteng Wu, a Chinese engineering post-graduate from McLean, Virginia, tried to trick Apple into replacing fake iPhones with authentic ones through the company's warranty program.

Wu originally immigrated to the US in 2013 and secured lawful employment before his "three-and-a-half-year-long scheme" towards defrauding Apple. According to the story by MacRumors, Wu and his conspirators got multiple packages with inoperable and counterfeit iPhones from Hong Kong partners with spoofed IMEI numbers and serial numbers that matched authentic in-warranty iPhones.

Scam Used Fake Names to Return Fake iPhones

The conspirators used fake names then returned the fake phones to Apple while claiming they didn't work and should be replaced under Apple's warranty. Replacements were made for the counterfeit phones, and the received real iPhones were then shipped overseas towards places like Hong Kong.

Wu worked with Jiahong Cai, Taeng Liu, and his wife to work with the conspiracy and get the fake IDs, used aliases, and even opened a number of a commercial mail receiving agency mailboxes.

Wu Defrauded Apple of $1 Million Worth of iPhones

Wu was able to rake in about $1 million by defrauding Apple and planned to make even more money. With that, Wu and his conspirators were all arrested in December 2019, with Wu being in custody ever since.

Wu officially pleaded guilty in May 2020 to a count of "conspiracy to commit mail fraud." Judge Emmet G. Sullivan officially sentenced Wu to his sentence and even ordered him to pay a fine of $987 in restitution as well as an "identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment."

Wu and Conspirators Served Prison Sentences

Wu's wife, Cai, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and received a sentence of more than "five months time served following her guilty plea." Liu also pleaded guilty to the same offense and will receive their sentence next month.

The United States Department of Homeland Security, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. However, this isn't the first time the company has been tricked into replacing hundreds of different fake iPhones with authentic ones through the use of its warranty program.

Back in 2019, Quan Jiang, another Chinese engineering student, was sentenced to three years and a month in prison by a US district judge. This came after he was found guilty of scamming the Cupertino giant in the same manner, resulting in $1 million worth of fake products.

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Written by Urian B.