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$1.5 Million Worth of iPad Minis Stolen from Airport Warehouse

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Apr 12, 2001
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The New York Post reports that thieves managed to steal $1.5 million worth of iPad minis from a warehouse at Kennedy Airport in New York City on Monday night. The heist, which appears to have been an inside job, netted the criminals two pallets containing 3,600 iPad minis.
The crooks arrived at Building 261 around 11 p.m. in a white tractor trailer marked with the name CEVA on the side, according to the sources. They pulled up to the side of the airport building that faces onto a street and has less security than the other side, which is accessible from the airport tarmac.

Sources believe someone let them into the area and then let them out after they grabbed the iPads.

They grabbed about 3,600 of the minis that were being shipped by a company called Cargo Airport Services, which said the iPads had just arrived from China and were destined for locations around the US.
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Three other pallets were left behind when the thieves fled after being approached by a warehouse worker.

The report does not specifically identify which types of iPad minis were stolen in the heist, but with pre-orders of the new cellular-capable models on their way to customers over the next several days, it seems possible that the units were LTE models in the process of being distributed for launch-day sales.

Article Link: $1.5 Million Worth of iPad Minis Stolen from Airport Warehouse
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/15/1-5-million-worth-of-ipad-minis-stolen-from-airport-warehouse/
When the iPad 3 came out, my UPS driver told me he had 2 unmarked security cars follow him from the UPS hub to Best Buy to deliver something like 700 iPads.
 
This is the second heist against apple with large sums of money and product this year that were stolen right? Does this happen every year? How can a person honestly get away with stealing these devices, the resale has to be impossible...
 
STiNG Operation said:
This is the second heist against apple with large sums of money and product this year that were stolen right? Does this happen every year? How can a person honestly get away with stealing these devices, the resale has to be impossible...
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What would be so hard?


Can sell those anywhere. Streets, Kijiji, Craigslist, ebay, etc
 
So if someone offers you iPads from their trunk, these might actually be real for once, rather than a brick.
 
frayne182 said:
What would be so hard?


Can sell those anywhere. Streets, Kijiji, Craigslist, ebay, etc
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It would be hard because Apple can track exactly what ipads went missing from their serials, and block them. Not sure if the will, or would, but its still a possibility.
 
I imagine Apple is now simply waiting for someone to power up one of the devices matching the stolen serial numbers (akin to the Steve Jobs iPad that went to the clown).
 
miralize said:
It would be hard because Apple can track exactly what ipads went missing from their serials, and block them. Not sure if the will, or would, but its still a possibility.
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Stolen phones/tablets are sold all the time.


My buddy bought a stolen iPhone not knowing online and the carrier was like "you know this was a stolen phone?" He had no idea and they activated it for him.

I don't think they would fully block any of these. Might use them as bait to catch these guys in fact. Its not the consumers fault in the end.
 
ck2875 said:
I imagine Apple is now simply waiting for someone to power up one of the devices matching the stolen serial numbers (akin to the Steve Jobs iPad that went to the clown).
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You're absolutely right. This won't go away. They will investigate and track these items. It's just too much to be ignored. Unless they are shipped out of the country right away, they will be caught.
 
On second thought: I bet it was Santa Claus.

If it wasn't him, these thieves missed one hell of an opportunity. I can only imagine how amazing a video of some guys dressed up as Santa and his helpers stealing 3,600 iPads would have looked on the evening news.
 
Apple really lost out more because now they have to reship $1.5 million worth of iPad minis to customers who are now not getting it.
 
SamGabbay said:
Apple really lost out more because now they have to reship $1.5 million worth of iPad minis to customers who are now not getting it.
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Yeah it sucks for Apple, but we are talking about like a 750k-1M loss for a company that has billions in the bank. We are also talking about small group of iPad Minis. If they sold 3 M units opening weekend we are talking about 0.1% of their pre-orders so it isn't going to be a major constraint on their supply by any means.
 
So for any of you who had delivery dates this week and it has now moved to next week, we know what happened. Haha
 
odditie said:
Yeah it sucks for Apple, but we are talking about like a 750k-1M loss for a company that has billions in the bank. We are also talking about small group of iPad Minis. If they sold 3 M units opening weekend we are talking about 0.1% of their pre-orders so it isn't going to be a major constraint on their supply by any means.
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Actually, I think Apple has insurance, so there is no loss, only delivery delays.
 
reden said:
Actually, I think Apple has insurance, so there is no loss, only delivery delays.
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I assume it's not Apple's insurance. I would think the shipping company has full insurance and responsibility for this. Apple doesn't own the shipping companies, they contract out that work.
 
STiNG Operation said:
This is the second heist against apple with large sums of money and product this year that were stolen right? Does this happen every year? How can a person honestly get away with stealing these devices, the resale has to be impossible...
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Are you serious? Have you seen the gray market for devices like this, they would get near retail for almost all o them easily..
 
reden said:
Actually, I think Apple has insurance, so there is no loss, only delivery delays.
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Right, I'm just saying that even if you said money wise it would be a small number for them to eat. For quantity it is a small number as well. It sucks, but it isn't going to be something that Tim Cook probably even gets involved with.
 
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