Germantown man convicted in scheme to defraud Apple out of thousands of iPhones

Company lost more than $3 million worth of products, authorities say

February 20, 2024 11:11 p.m.

Pengfei Xue of Germantown and Haotian Sun of Baltimore were found guilty Tuesday in a scheme to fraudulently receive more than 5,000 iPhones from Apple, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

A federal jury found Sun and Xue guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Sentencing for the pair, who could face up to 20 years in prison, is scheduled for June 21, according to digital court records.

From 2017 to 2019, the Chinese nationals, both 33, along with other co-conspirators, sent counterfeit iPhones to Apple, claiming they needed to be repaired so Apple would exchange them with genuine iPhones, the release said.

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The pair received shipments of fake phones from Hong Kong at United Parcel Service mailboxes in the Washington, D.C., area and added serial numbers or IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers to them, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sun and Xue then submitted the fake phones to Apple retail stores and Apple-authorized service providers such as the Georgetown Apple Store using different aliases, the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

The Chinese nationals sent in more than 5,000 fake iPhones to Apple during the two years that they operated the scheme, causing Apple to lose more than $3 million worth of products, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Xue’s attorney, Steve Kiersh, declined to comment on the case, and Sun’s attorney, Stephen Brennwald, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

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