Man charged with swindling 22 million yuan through iPhone fraud

A court in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality said Saturday that a man was charged with swindling more than 22 million yuan ($ 3.25 million) in the past three years by returning fake iPhones to Apple stores in exchange with new real iPhones and then selling them.

The 40- year- old man surnamed Li, along with his accomplice, was sentenced to a 15- year jail term in January, the Chongqing Morning Post reported Sunday, adding that Li had bought a house in Beijing and a Benz car before he was arrested.

IPhone customers can return their undamaged iPhone to the Apple Store within 14 days of purchase for a refund if they are not fully satisfied with their purchase, according to the return policy of the Apple.

At the beginning, Li, along with his accomplice, took advantage of the iPhone’s returns policy from November 2014 to March 2015 and gained more than one million yuan by disassembling the motherboard of the iPhone, swapping it with a fake one and returning the phone in exchange for money.

Li’s accomplice confessed that each iPhone’s motherboard could sell at 800 yuan, according to the report. The report did not say where did they sell the motherboards.

Since March 2015, Li and his accomplice changed their methods to swindle money. They directly bought iPhones with no power on ( NPO) and exchanged them with new iPhones from Apple stores and then sold the new iPhones, said the report.

Police said that Li and his accomplice had exchanged more than 3,000 iPhones in three months’ time, according to the report, adding that it was a new method of swindling after iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were released.