Apple isn’t the only source of creativity in the world. Criminals are pretty clever, too. There are two schemes floating through U.S. Apple retail stores now, one relying on greed and the other on a simple screwdriver. Both techniques are not secret among the criminal community, but publishing both here may highlight them for retail employees who have never encountered the methods. In southern California, police have arrested three men who were paying transients and others to purchase two-year-contract iPhones at Verizon’s subsidized price. The crooks were then reprogramming and selling the unlocked iPhones to other buyers, sometimes out of the country. The scheme basically creates a no-contract iPhone for just $199, instead of the usual $649 price. In the process, the carriers lose two years of monthly subscriber payments, which is their primary source of revenues. Sheriff’s deputies in Los Cerritos (Calif.) were called by one buyer who was promised $150 by the suspects to buy five iPhones, but was not paid. Los Cerritos Apple store employees told deputies that one suspect visited the store almost daily, apparently in pursuit of having others buy phones. After an investigation, deputies arrested the men for conspiracy to commit grand theft and commercial burglary. In a more basic scheme, shoplifters are using screwdrivers to surreptitiously remove screws from the bottom of display iPhones, thereby releasing the back plate. Since the anti-shoplifting cord is attached to the back plate, the iPhone can then be easily stolen. For the thieves, the absence of a back plate isn’t a deterrent in daily use—it can be hidden by putting the iPhone in a case.
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The same process of unscrewing the backplates has also hit carrier stores, e.g., AT&T.
The backplate process is the reason Retail Merchandising is designing a new acrylic stand that uses a locking 30-pin dock connector like the iPads recently switched to. Benefits: Less cables, consistent power, and no issue with theft by removing the backplate.
We’ve also seen people sliding razor blades between the iPhone’s back cover and the security sensor, keeping the pressure sensor depressed (and therefore, un-triggered), but free-ing the phone.
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