How Did Two College Students Scam Apple Of $ 1 Million?

Allegedly, two Chinese engineering students residing in Oregon, USA scammed Apple of a huge sum, and for the exact same deed, both of them are facing federal charges. The whole scam cost Apple almost US$ 1 Million in replacement parts. As per reports, the students were indulged in malpractices since 2017 and were exploiting Apple’s return policy to a high degree. 

The real question is, why was this discovered almost two years later, and how did two students manage to elude a trillion dollar technology giant?

Who Was Involved In The Scam?

Yangyang Zhou and Quan Jiang are the names of the two who are charged with multiple felonies. As per reports, Yangyang recently completed his engineering degree at the Oregon State University. Yangyang and Quan smuggled thousands of knock-off iPhones from China into the US and forwarded them batch by batch to Apple for repair/replacement. The students claimed that the counterfeit iPhones won’t power on, which was correct, so Apple sent back real iPhones as a replacement to the fake iPhones. All this cost the American technology company a whooping sum of US$ 895,800.

How Did The Students Manage To Elude Apple?

Where Yangyang channelled the counterfeit shipments into the US and the real iPhones back to China, Quan, who also studied engineering at Linn Benton Community College in the same city was responsible for managing the funds associated with the deals. The address of the shipments was provided by Quan, and when the replacements were complete, the real iPhones were sent back to China. Consequently, an associate of Quan wired the money to his mother’s account in his hometown. The money was then forwarded to Quan Jiang’s account in the US, reports say.

As per the complaints, Yangyang and Quan both claimed to be completely alien to the fact that the incoming shipments from China consisted of counterfeit iPhones. Since the charges haven’t been proved yet, both students remitted of custody, however, Quan Jiang is being monitored via GPS. The charges that the students have been accused of are given below:

• Yangyang Zhou: Illegal Export of Goods
• Quan Jiang: Trafficking of Counterfeit Goods, Wire Fraud

The Conclusion

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Reports say that Apple was unable to verify the ownership and authenticity of the counterfeit iPhones since they weren’t powering on, however, it became even more viable because Apple didn’t ask for a proof of purchase while replacing the devices. Even though both the students refuse to respond to the notices associated with the same, it is unlikely that they will be acquitted of charges.