Chinese Nationals Get Up to 6.5 Years in $16.2 Million Fake iPhone Fraud

Q: Whose legitimate Apple serial numbers were secretly stolen to fuel this massive international counterfeit empire?

They were stolen from legitimate Apple devices owned by customers across the United States. Court papers and the Justice Department said the counterfeit iPhones and iPads were loaded with real identification information and serial numbers copied from genuine devices belonging to Apple customers nationwide. Those stolen identifiers made the fake products appear authentic enough to pass Apple’s warranty checks and be swapped for real replacements at stores across Southern California. The reporting does not identify specific victims by name. What is clear is that the scheme depended on harvesting serial numbers from real customer-owned Apple devices, then attaching those numbers to counterfeit imports from China to impersonate valid products in Apple’s system.

1 articles · Updated · OCRegister · Aug 28

Wenhui Huang, 41, was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in federal prison, while Yang Song, 39, received just under 5 years for a counterfeit Apple-device scheme that cost Apple at least $16.2 million.
From December 2015 to March 2024, the group imported fake iPhones and iPads from China, used stolen or spoofed serial numbers to obtain genuine replacements at Southern California Apple stores, then resold the real devices for profit.
Judge André Birotte Jr. ordered Huang to pay $16.2 million in restitution and Song $16.9 million; Song also pleaded guilty to a separate money-laundering conspiracy tied to sending fraud proceeds overseas.
The sentencing closes a long-running federal case in which four other defendants were also convicted, with the fraud spanning stores from Beverly Hills and Pasadena to Irvine, Glendale and Costa Mesa.