US citizen exchanged $6 million worth of fake iPhones and iPads for real ones and was sentenced to 4 years in prison

A US citizen, using Apple's warranty service, returned fake iPhones and iPads to the company, causing a loss of 6 million dollars. The criminal scheme was uncovered and he was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Zhiwei "Allen" Liao and his accomplices imported counterfeit Apple products from China, affixed genuine Apple serial numbers to them, and then returned the counterfeit products to Apple stores claiming they were defective.

Apple's warranty service, based on serial numbers, made it possible to replace counterfeit products with genuine iPhones and iPads. Liao's group then sold the original devices in China, making a high profit. As a result of the implementation of this criminal scheme, the loss of Apple exceeded 6 million dollars.

Arrested for organizing a massive fraud, Liao was sentenced to 51 months in prison. Authorities have seized his assets, including homes, cash and more than 200 Apple devices.

This is not the first such case in the USA. It was reported earlier that fraudsters in the USA exchanged 2,700 fake iPhones worth 3 million dollars for real ones.