Apple Enthusiasts Beware! iPhones Attract Scam Artists and Crooks

Apple iPhones are hot all right. So hot that they're becoming the principal players in a number of scams and organized theft rings around the country.  And victims?  They find little help from Apple or anyone else.

In San Francisco, a consumer named Patrick reported being approached by a stranger who asked if he would like to make $100 “real easy.”

Sure, he replied, and Patrick soon found himself in a nearby Apple store with the stranger, who bought five iPhones and put them in Patrick's name, using Patrick's driver's license and Social Security number.

The stranger then gave Patrick $100 and drove off with the phones.

“Yesterday I got a bill in the mail for $450 from AT&T," Patrick told us. “I thought I was just helping them to purchase the phones. I mistakenly assumed that they would be billed for the service.”

Not long afterwards, Patrick was hanging around another Apple store, he said, when another stranger approached him with the same offer. Patrick said he sought out the store manager and told him what was happening.

Tough, said the manager, who said the practice is legal because the victim of the scam is willingly supplying his information.

“This is a scam and Apple is in on it,” declared Patrick. “The ones getting screwed are AT&T, Verizon and the person who will get a ding on their credit report.”

Fences

Store personnel are also implicated in a series of arrests in the Washington, D.C. area. The FBI recently busted three men who worked at local shopping mall cell phone kiosks in Virginia and accused them of purchasing stolen iPhones and reselling them at a profit.

The arrests were the result of an investigation into the theft of a large number of Apple products from riders on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's buses and trains, the FBI said.

Two of the men were later indicted by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., on charges of brokering 27 stolen iPhones and 14 Macbooks. Another was indicted for allegedly paying $16,000 to buy 28 stolen iPhones and 14 Macbooks.

Victims

And what happens to those whose iPhones are stolen? Besides losing their valuable little gadget, some consumers also have a hard time recovering their data.

“Having had my iPhone stolen, I called Apple to see how to get acess to my telephone numbers that have been safely backed up on my home computer,” said Brandon of Mountlake Terrace, Wash.

“Apple's representative told me that there was no way for me to get the phone numbers from iTunes without buying another iPhone or borrowing someone else's phone. I now have no access to all of the numbers that I thought were safely available on my computer in the event that I lost my iPhone,” Brandon said.

Dennis of Brooklyn, N.Y., had his iPhone for only two months before it was swiped. When he called Apple to explore his options, he was told he could buy a new phone at the full retail cost, get an older reconditioned one for $299 or switch to a non-iPhone.

“To be punished for having my iPhone stolen (punishment enough I think) is outrageous and a travesty,” fumed Dennis. “Being told I have to pay retail to replace a non-insurable phone has got to be the best scam going between Apple and ATT. I guess these replacements get counted towards the total iphone sold number that is often trotted out in the press.”