Scammers Who Stole $1.5 Million From Apple Sentenced to Combined 13 Years in Jail

Two people were sentenced to 13 years in prison for stealing 1.5 million dollars from Apple.

The scheme to use point-of-sale devices stolen from Apple stores to generate fraudulent Apple gift cards was reported in September of 2021.

Retail employees use a handheld point-of-sale device called the "Isaac" to check stock and sell products to customers wherever they are.

One of the scam artists walked into Apple Stores across the country and waited for the opportune moment to steal a device. They sat outside the same store, still connected to its wi-fi network, and used the employee account on the Isaac to purchase thousands of dollars worth of digital gift cards.

The other conspirator was able to walk into other Apple Stores and buy a range of high-value Apple devices by using the digital gift card redemption codes that were loaded into the Wallet app. This process was repeated across the country, allowing the pair to cheat Apple out of more than 1.5 million dollars.

One of the scam artists stole $50,000 worth of Apple gift cards in Texas and his partner used them to buy thousands of dollars worth of Apple products in New York. The haul in Texas was $50,000 using 26 digital gift cards.

The pair were arrested by the FBI after they were caught stealing from Apple Stores and using their cellphone to track their location. They pled guilty to wire fraud.

The perpetrators have been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison and ordered to pay over a million dollars in damages to Apple, according to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas. It's not clear if Apple has made any changes to its internal systems or access to employee accounts to prevent the same scam from being attempted again.