Apple customers that are purchasing a new MacBook through the Apple online retail store for pickup at a local retail location are discovering that bad guys have impersonated them and hijacked their laptop purchase by using fake IDs and QR Codes.
Several media outlets in the Southern California area have reported that when customers purchase a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro through the Apple online store and they arrive at the Apple Store to pick up it up, they find that the computer has already been claimed and taken by an impostor.
Los Angeles resident Darragh Marmorstein told the Orange County Register that she ordered a MacBook Pro online and on November 30 received a notification that her order was ready for pickup. However, when she called the Americana at Brand in Glendale store to confirm before heading out to the store, she was told that her order had already been picked up!
Marmorstein said Apple refused to reimburse her for the laptop and would not tell her whether the person who picked up her order had showed an ID. Ironically, Marmorstein had opted for store pickup, due to her fear of porch pirates grabbing her new MacBook off of her front step.
Meanwhile, Yorba Linda resident Paul Giles, told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that someone impersonating him picked up his 16-inch MacBook Pro (also at the Americana at Brand Apple store) that he had intended to give to his daughter as a gift.
Giles says the manager at Apple told him, ‘Oh, I’m sorry this happened. Somebody apparently impersonated you and picked it up.’”
Spokespersons for Apple and the Glendale Police Department declined to comment.
The thefts are not limited to the the Americana at Brand Apple store. Rick Markowitz told KNBC-TV that he had ordered a MacBook for in-store pickup in Sherman Oaks, but that his order had been picked up by a fake ID-carrying crook that used his QR code.
While Markowitz filed a police report, he hasn’t heard any word from investigators.
