A second Chinese national has been sentenced for his role in a scheme designed to defraud Apple out of more than $1 million by using counterfeit iPhones.
Teang Liu has been sentenced. He is the latest schemer to see jail and big fines over his role in the plan.
Liu and his co-conspirators– which included Haiteng Wu, Wu’s wife, and Jiahong Cai – received multiple packages containing hundreds of inoperable, counterfeit iPhones from partners in Hong Kong. The phones were equipped with spoofed IMEI numbers and serial numbers that corresponded with authentic in-warranty iPhones.
Under fake names, claimed the devices would not turn on and claimed the devices should be replaced under warranty. Apple replaced the fake iPhones with genuine ones. They then shipped back the fraudulently obtained devices to conspirators overseas, including Hong Kong. Each handset has a large value on the Chinese market.
The group also got their hands on fake identification documents, used aliases, and opened multiple commercial mail receiving agency mailboxes.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
In total, Apple was defrauded out of over $1 worth of iPhones. Liu and his fellow conspirators were arrested in December 2019
In February, Chinese engineering post-graduate Haiteng Wu was sentenced to a 26-month time-served sentence for his part in the conspiracy.
