Thieves grab over 300 iPhone X units off delivery truck in San Francisco

Posted:
in iPhone
Some people expecting to buy an iPhone X in San Francisco on Friday may be disappointed, as 313 units were stolen from a local UPS truck earlier this week.




The truck was delivering the iPhones to Apple Stonestown on Wednesday, CNET noted, citing a police report and TV station KTSF. The break-in is said to have been committed by three "husky" men driving a white Dodge van, between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m.

The UPS driver reportedly locked up the truck's cargo area, but a janitor took a photo of the suspects hauling boxes into their van.

The value of the stolen iPhones is estimated at $370,000. Each one had its description and serial number catalogued, which could potentialy make them easier to track down, if not necessarily in time to prevent some buyers from being scammed.

The iPhone X is likely to be high-profile target for both thieves and scalpers, owing not just to its $999 retail cost but its relative scarcity. One of the first legal purchases in Australia was by a man who intended to resell his phones at nearly double their normal price.

People who scheduled preorder pickup at Apple Stonestown will still get their iPhone X on time, according to a CNET source.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 45
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 


    racerhomieRacerhomieXSoundJudgmentnetmagewatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 45
    Bring on security guards or at least a second person in the truck to watch such a valuable load . But seems pointless in the end unless your going to scam 313 people individually without getting caught because once they try and activate it , it should be red flagged. 
    racerhomieRacerhomieXwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 45
    Oh, my bad. Yea, the thieves will likely get the money anyway. But still must be ways to find these guys and then get money back? 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 45
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 
    Yes, but this seems organized. They also may ship the devices to a country where the serial numbers don't matter and a much higher per-unit price can be had (to offset the shipping costs). Then you have the potential for a gadget "chop shop" but I think this device might be too new for that solution to be the most likely.

    Even if they do get away with it in the short term, Apple and authorities will likely not let it go, just like we saw with a Romanian gang stealing iPhones off the back of a moving truck like it's a Fast and Furious movie.


    edited November 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 45
    Soli said:
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 
    Yes, but this seems organized. They also may ship the devices to a country where the serial numbers don't matter and a much higher per-unit price can be had (to offset the shipping costs). Then you have the potential for a gadget "chop shop" but I think this device might be too new for that solution to be the most likely.

    Even if they do get away with it in the short term, Apple and authorities will likely not let it go, just like we saw with a Romanian gang stealing iPhones off the back of a moving truck like it's a Fast and Furious movie.


    Wow. So crazy. But then they spend all life looking over their shoulder. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 45
    Soli said:
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 
    Yes, but this seems organized. They also may ship the devices to a country where the serial numbers don't matter and a much higher per-unit price can be had (to offset the shipping costs). Then you have the potential for a gadget "chop shop" but I think this device might be too new for that solution to be the most likely.

    Even if they do get away with it in the short term, Apple and authorities will likely not let it go, just like we saw with a Romanian gang stealing iPhones off the back of a moving truck like it's a Fast and Furious movie.


    Wow. So crazy. But then they spend all life looking over their shoulder. 
    Ever watch a movie called fast and furious?
  • Reply 7 of 45
    viclauyyc said:
    Soli said:
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 
    Yes, but this seems organized. They also may ship the devices to a country where the serial numbers don't matter and a much higher per-unit price can be had (to offset the shipping costs). Then you have the potential for a gadget "chop shop" but I think this device might be too new for that solution to be the most likely.

    Even if they do get away with it in the short term, Apple and authorities will likely not let it go, just like we saw with a Romanian gang stealing iPhones off the back of a moving truck like it's a Fast and Furious movie.


    Wow. So crazy. But then they spend all life looking over their shoulder. 
    Ever watch a movie called fast and furious?
    But Dom and the gang lived happily ever after. Lol.
  • Reply 8 of 45
    tyler82tyler82 Posts: 1,100member
    Bring on security guards or at least a second person in the truck to watch such a valuable load . But seems pointless in the end unless your going to scam 313 people individually without getting caught because once they try and activate it , it should be red flagged. 
    The delivery drivers may have been in on it. 
  • Reply 9 of 45
    viclauyyc said:
    Soli said:
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 
    Yes, but this seems organized. They also may ship the devices to a country where the serial numbers don't matter and a much higher per-unit price can be had (to offset the shipping costs). Then you have the potential for a gadget "chop shop" but I think this device might be too new for that solution to be the most likely.

    Even if they do get away with it in the short term, Apple and authorities will likely not let it go, just like we saw with a Romanian gang stealing iPhones off the back of a moving truck like it's a Fast and Furious movie.


    Wow. So crazy. But then they spend all life looking over their shoulder. 
    Ever watch a movie called fast and furious?
    Sounds like a godawful movie. Who watches that garbage?
    tyler82
  • Reply 10 of 45
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,109member
    tyler82 said:
    Bring on security guards or at least a second person in the truck to watch such a valuable load . But seems pointless in the end unless your going to scam 313 people individually without getting caught because once they try and activate it , it should be red flagged. 
    The delivery drivers may have been in on it. 
    I was thinking that too. It seems like they planned it, so they must have known more or less when and where they needed to be with their van. It will be great if they get busted, like the person who stole the iPads from the Jobs household years ago. 
  • Reply 11 of 45
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    I'll bet that UPS driver was in on the heist.  

    And Amazon wants customers to let delivery people into our homes... not!

    mwhiteRacerhomieXcolinngwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 45
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    Arrest that UPS driver and thing will clear out. That’s insider’s leak. There’s no way the damn thieves know when and where to hit that truck!
  • Reply 14 of 45

    If these make their way to Ebay, it would be unfair to the buyers since there's no way to find out if the phone is stolen or not.

    However, that would leave a digital trail to the thieves.

    I'm not sure about Craiglist or buying these from the back of a truck in a dimly lit street. People buying stuff that way are asking for trouble.

    But as Soli said, even if they make it out of the country, in the long run they will be traced.

  • Reply 15 of 45
    It is a little suspicious that they knew that truck had iPhones in it. I am sure that driver will be questioned thoroughly. But  anyone interested in an iPhone X should just order one online and pay what Apple charges. Anything else is a rip off!
    You get it when you get it. But at least you won't find yourself buying stolen property if you buy it from someone off the street. Or worse yet a fake one that doesn't even work.

  • Reply 16 of 45
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    horvatic said:
    It is a little suspicious that they knew that truck had iPhones in it. I am sure that driver will be questioned thoroughly. But  anyone interested in an iPhone X should just order one online and pay what Apple charges. Anything else is a rip off!
    You get it when you get it. But at least you won't find yourself buying stolen property if you buy it from someone off the street. Or worse yet a fake one that doesn't even work.

    I guess it's a LITTLE suspicious to for someone to think that a huge delivery truck might have iPhones in it when it just pulled up and parked outside an Apple Store just before the iPhone X goes on sale the next day.  It COULD have been, erm, hot chocolate?
    cgWerksnetmageStrangeDays
  • Reply 17 of 45
    Lets hope they get shot.
  • Reply 18 of 45
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    fallenjt said:
    Arrest that UPS driver and thing will clear out. That’s insider’s leak. There’s no way the damn thieves know when and where to hit that truck!
    Fuck doing any investigation, just arrest the driver because he's the only one who could possibly know there was iPhones on the truck¡
  • Reply 19 of 45
    roakeroake Posts: 809member

    Some people expecting to buy an iPhone X in San Francisco on Friday may be disappointed, as 313 units were stolen from a local UPS truck earlier this week.




    The truck was delivering the iPhones to Apple Stonestown on Wednesday, CNET noted, citing a police report and TV station KTSF. The break-in is said to have been committed by three "husky" men driving a white Dodge van, between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m.

    The UPS driver reportedly locked up the truck's cargo area, but a janitor took a photo of the suspects hauling boxes into their van.

    The value of the stolen iPhones is estimated at $370,000. Each one had its description and serial number catalogued, which could potentialy make them easier to track down, if not necessarily in time to prevent some buyers from being scammed.

    The iPhone X is likely to be high-profile target for both thieves and scalpers, owing not just to its $999 retail cost but its relative scarcity. One of the first legal purchases in Australia was by a man who intended to resell his phones at nearly double their normal price.

    People who scheduled preorder pickup at Apple Stonestown will still get their iPhone X on time, according to a CNET source.

    TUESDAY - the Google Marketing team finally convinced the executive staff to adopt the their newest offering in an effort to bolster the idea that people who could afford other phones would choose the Pixel 2.  The entire executive staff agreed with the caveat that they were highly secure to protect against the typical Android Spyware and viruses that could otherwise compromise corporate secrets.

    WEDNESDAY - after firing the Marketing team, Larry Page told his engineering team that a phone without an operating system is not quite what they had in mind and explained that the whole lot of them would be looking for jobs if they could not find suitable phones within 24 hours.

    THURSDAY - A "husky" engineering team was photographed by a janitor while stealing iPhones from a UPS van.  The team's white Dodge van full of iPhones then hurriedly sped away in the general direction of Google.

    FRIDAY - You decide!
    lkrupp
  • Reply 20 of 45
    Can not Apple simply find the phones once activated? Must be so many ways to track them. No? 


    What's the point? That will mean the thieves sold the phone and made their money, and the buyer will end up with a brick. I doubt the user would even know who they bought it from.
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