WASHINGTON — Two Maryland residents face up to 20 years in prison for defrauding Apple Inc. out of three million dollars.
Haotian Sun and Pengfei Xue participated in what the D.C. courts call a “sophisticated scheme” to defraud the tech giant, Apple, out of millions of dollars worth of iPhones.
According to government evidence, between May 2017 and September 2019 Sun, Xue, and other conspirators submitted counterfeit iPhones to Apple for repair and received authentic iPhones in return.
The pair would have fake iPhones shipped from Hong Kong to UPS mailboxes located throughout D.C. Then they would take the devices to Apple stores, including one located in Georgetown. The fake iPhones had serial numbers and IMEI numbers that appeared real.
Court documents didn’t detail what the pair did with the real iPhones after receiving them from the stores.
Over the span of two-and-a-half years, Sun and Xue sent in more than 5,000 fake iPhones to Apple. They used fake names during the scheme, but were eventually arrested on December 5, 2019.
They were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, a charge that carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. Their sentencing date is scheduled for June 21.
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