A scammer who made a windfall by duping tech giant Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been sentenced to prison.
A Chinese immigrant named Haiteng Wu used an ingenious method of returning fake iPhones to Apple, claiming that the iPhones were legitimate, in-warranty phones, to receive authentic replacement from the company.
The modus operandi followed by Wu and his co-conspirators was to receive shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong that contained spoofed IMEI numbers and serial numbers that corresponded with authentic in-warranty iPhones. This was then exchanged with Apple for genuine iPhones, taking advantage of the company's return policy.
Wu ran this scam for roughly 3-1/2 years before being caught. The fraudster confirmed that he defrauded Apple of nearly $1 million.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a release posted on its website that Wu was sentenced to serve 26 months in prison. He was arrested in December 2019 and pleaded guilty in May 2020. He has been in custody since then, awaiting trial.
Wu was also ordered to pay $987,000 in restitution and an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment.
At last check, Apple shares were down 0.26% at $174.16.
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