Man Robbed After Buying 300 iPhones From Apple Fifth Avenue

[grkm3]

Um - whats the markup on these!?

I know people who sit in line 8 hours a day in tax free nh that buy iPhone and sell them in the middle east and Europe for almost double. He bought 13s because they still have the Sim slot and can be used over seas

 

[Reapro]

Guess who did it.

 

[haplain]

Seems like only a couple scenarios here:
1) This was some type of an inside job i.e. either this person was being followed and/or regularly did this and was a target.
2) An inside job for an insurance scam and he was in on it.

I can't see how these thieves would be randomly waiting around at that hour to happen to rob the one person who had 300 iPhones on them.

 

[LevorgPenmancho]

300 iPhones? That’s only one of each in the current line up these days.

The Apple Store will know all device IMEIs and serial numbers. Surely all phones will be blocked immediately. Are the thieves stupid…or incredibly clever???

 

[nickawhite]

So...did he get 300 x $50 ($15,000) worth of Apple gift cards? 🤣

 

[montuori]

Must be weird being on shift at Apple Store selling phones and tablets at 3am in the morning. Who's buying that makes it worth it?

Service industry getting off the night shift; white collar types who don't have time during the day; insomniacs. If only 1% of NYCs population is the audience, that's still 80,000 people.

 

[lazyrighteye]

For me, the most eye-opening aspect here is that a customer can walk into an Apple store and purchase 300 iPhones. Coming in a close second: walking around anywhere with 300 iPhones at 1:45 am.

 

[Bawstun]

Wow, victim blaming is deep here. Seems we should expect to get robbed as part of society in NYC now?
Don't get me wrong, I would never do what he did... but this could have been him buying them after his store closed late?

Tough crowd here.

Without getting political, yes, NYC leadership does seemed to have accepted robbery and crime as part of their society.

 

[seek3r]

For me, the most eye-opening aspect here is that a customer can walk into an Apple store and purchase 300 iPhones. Coming in a close second: walking around anywhere with 300 iPhones at 1:45 am.

Right? Who wants to walk around with more than 100lbs of gear worth a quarter million at 1am anywhere? Take a damn cab if nothing else, if you can afford the 300 iPhones you can afford the cab fare

Edit: missed that he was walking to his car

 

[Bawstun]

For me, the most eye-opening aspect here is that a customer can walk into an Apple store and purchase 300 iPhones. Coming in a close second: walking around anywhere with 300 iPhones at 1:45 am.

Why do people keep saying he was ‘walking around?’ The article states he was walking to his vehicle. He wasn’t just strolling around the streets of NYC.

 

[MacTwick]

Why in the world would you buy these in person as opposed to online?

Because the online store doesn’t allow you to do this. You get flagged as a volume purchaser and going through the normal online store it’s against their sale policy. This was a common thing for me when i supported the online store during Covid. I had to cancel and flag different purchases.

 

[seek3r]

Why do people keep saying he was ‘walking around?’ The article states he was walking to his vehicle. He wasn’t just strolling around the streets of NYC.

Fair enough, I missed that part personally

 

[rm5]

This is a stupid question—but the Apple Store is open at 1 AM? Or did I miss something and he bought the iPhones earlier?

tbh I didn't read through all 9 pages of this thread, so I missed a lot.

 

[seek3r]

This is a stupid question—but the Apple Store is open at 1 AM? Or did I miss something and he bought the iPhones earlier?

The 5th ave store is open 24/7

 

[MacTwick]

Sorry but who buys 300 iPhones from the store and carries them to a car at 01:45??

When i was in Sales these types of customers are called “NEU” customers. They purchase (2 iPhones at a time) to resell to other countries at a large profit. It is against our trade policy because they usually ended up at trade sanctioned countries but stores still did it.

To accommodate for customer traffic stores either ask they come in to purchase before opening or after hours such as 1am once customers are gone or very low traffic for the 24hr stores.

They’re some of the scummiest “customers” I’ve ever worked with.

 

[Bawstun]

Crime ridden? My dude crime is at absurdly low levels in NYC, the only reason the spike during cov19 and tail after looks so big is that crime has been so low that any increase is a huge percentage jump. I grew up in NYC, remember the early and mid-90s, the current crime rate is crazy low.

And I’d bet $100 right now that this guy was specifically targeted and not a random mugging.

Felonies are up over 25%, felony complaints over 16%, grand auto larceny rose 19%, grand larceny 9.5%, burglaries are up 8.9%, rape 15% and robberies 1.7%, according to the statistics released by the NYPD.

 

[meaning-matters]

Where was Apple security at? He didn't even bother asking for an escort to his car.

Sounds like an inside job. Must be carrying a lot of Apple store bags.

Update: How are you able to purchase 300 iPhones instantly? Apple only allows you to buy from 1-10 iPhones at a time.

Did you try with you Apple Store business account?

 

[JapanApple]

Sorry but who buys 300 iPhones from the store and carries them to a car at 01:45??

Well, I see wacky people in Tokyo......Ikebukuro, Akihabara.....walking out with 5 PlayStations( when they were not limited to how many can buy)

 

[zorinlynx]

Just like “poop in the street” is “everywhere” and you have to dodge it, all over San Francisco.

I’m there once a month at minimum. Only once was there poop in the street and it was someone who didn’t pick up after their dog.

One of the most important things you have to realize, which will help calm your nerves significantly if you believe it, is that just because you hear about things happening now and then doesn't mean those things are going to happen TO YOU.

For example, you hear about shootings all the time in the news. Maybe one or two a night in any large city. But the city has millions of people. The probability of YOU specifically, not being involved in criminal activity, being a victim of that crime is miniscule.

Keep your wits about you when you're out in the city of course, but don't be scared. Statistically you'll be fine unless you're dumb enough to buy $200K of iPhones in a conspicuous manner, then walk around the city at night with the merchandise.

And even then I bet that's been done hundred of times before without incident. That person was just the unlottery winner of the week.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Did you try with you Apple Store business account?

It only doubles the quantity amount. No were nearly 300 iPhones.

 

[montuori]

Felonies are up over 25%, felony complaints over 16%, grand auto larceny rose 19%, grand larceny over 9.5%, burglaries are up 8.9%, rape 15% and robberies 1.7%, according to the statistics released by the NYPD.

Covington, LA recorded a double homicide this week. Murder is up 100% but I'm not ready to call it "crime ridden."

 

[seek3r]

Felonies are up over 25%, felony complaints over 16%, grand auto larceny rose 19%, grand larceny 9.5%, burglaries are up 8.9%, rape 15% and robberies 1.7%, according to the statistics released by the NYPD.

You should probably read my post about statistics just a few comments up

EDIT: because it’s further back than I thought pasted here

Yes, it has, because it’s become *rare* these days. I’m not denying there’s been a crime spike either, it’s just not actually that big.

Think about it this way: if you have 1 of something and it increases by 1 it’s doubled, an increase of 100%, if you have 100 of something and it increases by 1 it’s an increase of 1% - same raw increase, vastly different percentage.

When crime was higher a spike of the amount we’ve had was negligible, that 1% increase, the same spike when crime is vastly lower is a much higher percentage increase. It’s also more shocking, so it generates more headlines, as a result. This is how statistics can be misleading and make it seem like crime is at high levels when it’s very much not

 

[ThisIsMike]

He must be selling them in Brazil or Turkey. Double the price if you have the right connections.

Probably selling them in Turkey because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

[Silverado]

If you can afford those many iPhones, either hire security when you get them or just have them shipped. I am glad the customer isn't seriously injured at least.

Word to the wise, NEVER fight off someone trying to rob you. He is lucky he escaped relatively unharmed. Just give them what they want.

And he only gave them one bag containing 125 phones! He kept 175 phones. It’s clear those thieves were not pros, lucky for him.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Because the online store doesn’t allow you to do this. You get flagged as a volume purchaser and going through the normal online store it’s against their sale policy. This was a common thing for me when i supported the online store during Covid. I had to cancel and flag different purchases.

Which makes me wonder even more about this story. If he wasn't able to get what he needed from the online store, he wouldn't be able to do such a ridiculous purchase at a physical store either.

My dad owned a c-store before, and tried to buy his supplies from Walmart. Walmart saw the large purchases and Store Manager said they won't allow him to buy more than 5 of an item now, and that he can get a lifetime ban if he is caught reselling any of the items sold. He used to pile it to the top with soda, and Walmart didn't like the fact that it was getting resold and cancelled the sale. (Note, the large purchases is allowed at their wholly owned subsidiary, Sam's Club.) There were no real "item limits" like some items have on the soda either.

Apple is an even larger company than Walmart. They have enough money to not care about losing a sale like this, if it means keeping the phones in stock for people who actually want them.