Massive iPhone scam: two Chinese men get prison sentences for defrauding Apple of $2.5 million

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the sentencing of two men who fraudulently obtained millions from Apple using counterfeit iPhones.

Haotian Sun, a 34-year-old citizen of China living in Baltimore, was sentenced to 57 months in prison. The court also imposed three years of supervised release after his prison term, along with a restitution payment of $1,072,200 to Apple. Furthermore, Sun is required to pay a monetary fine of $53,610.

The second defendant, 34-year-old Pengfei Xue, also a Chinese citizen residing in Germantown, Maryland, received a 54-month prison sentence, three years of supervised release, and is ordered to pay $397,000 in restitution to Apple. Xue must also pay a monetary fine of $19,890.

According to court documents, over two years, the criminals sent counterfeit iPhones to Apple for repair. The company would replace them with genuine devices. The scammers obtained fake (with counterfeit IMEI numbers) phones from Hong Kong. The conspirators sent Apple more than 6000 such phones, resulting in a loss of $2.5 million for the company.

Source: Neowin