Apple gift card scam cost shoppers hundreds of millions of dollars

An Apple gift card scam caused shoppers to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. A single raid recovered 4,000 iPhones worth between $8 million and $9 million, with the New Hampshire-based operation even involving a murder.

The sophisticated operation began by stealing Apple gift cards from retail outlets before they were tampered with and then replaced in stores. The moral of the story is to only buy cards directly from Apple stores…

Macmonde summarized a story reported by RPSN.

The New Hampshire operation began with the theft of Apple gift cards from retail locations. The cards were carefully opened so that the PIN and other vital statistics could be recorded, but they otherwise appeared unused. Then the cards were repackaged and placed back in stores. When the card was activated with a balance, the organization learned about it, took the money from the card, and then used it to purchase Apple products, such as iPhones and MacBooks.

The balances loaded onto the cards were then used to purchase Apple products, including some 4,000 iPhones worth $8 million to $9 million. These devices were then sold to gray market importers in China, Dubai and South America.

The scale of the operation, led by Chinese nationals, is said to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The investigation was conducted jointly by the New Hampshire Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

Apple is said to have helped investigators, although the company has not commented.

Take from 9to5Mac

The scale of this operation is absolutely staggering. The moral of the story here seems to be to only purchase gift cards directly from the company’s retail stores.

Gift cards are strongly associated with scams in general, with the FTC warning consumers about the most common version – where someone calls pretending to be from a government agency or company, requiring immediate payment via gift cards in order to avoid arrest.

Image: Apple