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Definitely an inside job and no they won’t be sold on eBay, Craigslist, etc. as that’s an easy way to be caught. Whoever stole this many phones likely already has a connection to offload them to in one transaction who will then ship them overseas (likely to China).
 
While I'm sure Apple can track these phones and disable them, I'm not sure it's to their advantage to do so. The thieves will most likely sell them as "brand new iPhones" and thus it's the people who buy them from said thieves that will get screwed and that doesn't do Apple any favors. $500K is nothing to Apple and since disabling them won't get them that inventory back, I'd bet they probably just write them off and carry on with things. Maybe rethink security for their stores at most.
 
Definitely an inside job and no they won’t be sold on eBay, Craigslist, etc. as that’s an easy way to be caught. Whoever stole this many phones likely already has a connection to offload them to in one transaction who will then ship them overseas (likely to China).

Nobody wants American eSIM model. Probably will be sold locally or Mexico.
 
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There would have to be security cameras everywhere in the mall - parking lot - streets around the mall.

I'd think with today's tech, the police would already have the plate number on any vehicle they used.
 
Old fashion security is best!!!! A good guard dog would be waiting on the other side.

rottweiler-guard-dog-768x512.png
 
Why would they need to track them? Those thieves have probably split up locations of those phones and isn't worth it I am sure they have insurance and they also have the IMEI, serial number, everything to blacklist the phones and make it so they can't activate them. The real victim are those people who are going to be fooled by "brand new" iphone and not know (and I would say the coffee shop too). Hopefully they can get the IMEI uploaded quick so potential buyers can do their own due diligence
You are right. In the past, I was about to be fooled for buying a brand new Apple AirPods Pro, it was sealed and legit. But the real skeptical part that it was a strange person in the mall trying to sell it to me, no receipt, no bag. I refused at the end, but I was that close hhhh.
 
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While I'm sure Apple can track these phones and disable them, I'm not sure it's to their advantage to do so. The thieves will most likely sell them as "brand new iPhones" and thus it's the people who buy them from said thieves that will get screwed and that doesn't do Apple any favors. $500K is nothing to Apple and since disabling them won't get them that inventory back, I'd bet they probably just write them off and carry on with things. Maybe rethink security for their stores at most.

Maybe then these people will think twice about buying cheap iPhones from questionable third party sources.
 
A lot of mentioning that the phones can only be sold for parts. I would imagine these people sell the phones to unsuspecting people, only to find out once the thieves have their money and run that the phone can't be activated.
 
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Stealing iPhones seems dumb because they're only worth the parts value (they'll be locked from activating), and you're definitely going to get caught.

Maybe Apple will decide to pay their neighboring vendors to install security alarms.
Thing is, they will just sell them via throw away accounts as "unwanted prize", "Unwanted gift" and being "unopened", so there will be another 500 or so victims who buy these cheap only to find out they are DOA.
There are plenty of fools looking for that bargain at a too good a price thinking they have scored a win.
 
Thing is, they will just sell them via throw away accounts as "unwanted prize", "Unwanted gift" and being "unopened", so there will be another 500 or so victims who buy these cheap only to find out they are DOA.
There are plenty of fools looking for that bargain at a too good a price thinking they have scored a win.
You don’t realize that stolen phones aren’t really being sold in the USA, but overseas blacklist don’t matter.
 
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I'm more surprised the police are investigating a shoplifting crime. Usually they ignore those as too minor to bother with and basically victimless as they are insured.
 


An Apple Store at the Alderwood Mall was robbed last weekend, with thieves infiltrating the location through a nearby coffee shop. According to Seattle's King 5 News, thieves broke into Seattle Coffee Gear, went into the bathroom, and cut a hole in the wall to get to the Apple Store backroom.

apple-store-washington.jpg

The burglars were able to bypass the Apple Store's security system by using the adjacent coffee shop, stealing a total of 436 iPhones that were worth around $500,000.

According to Seattle Coffee Gear manager Eric Marks, the coffee shop is not noticeably adjacent to the Apple Store because of the way that the store is laid out. "I would have never suspected we were adjacent to the Apple Store, how it wraps around I mean," Marks told King 5 News. "So, someone really had to think it out and have access to the mall layout."


Police were able to obtain surveillance footage of the theft, but as it is part of an active investigation, it has not yet been released. Nothing was stolen from the coffee shop, but it will cost $1,500 to replace locks and repair the bathroom wall.

No employees were at the Apple Store when the theft happened as the Alderwood Mall had closed for the night. An Alderwood spokesperson said they were working with the police to solve the incident, but Apple has not yet commented.

Article Link: Washington Apple Store Robbed of $500,000 in iPhones After Thieves Tunnel Through Coffee Shop Wall
This same thing happened in 2013 when I was working at the Knox street store in Dallas.
 
Yeah... I wanted to give that guy the benefit of the doubt, but I looked at images in the mall... the front door of the Apple Store is side by side with the front door of Seattle Coffee Gear. If someone doesn't realize they share a wall, they're kind of dumb.

I suppose maybe it requires some inside knowledge to know that the coffee shop's bathroom shares a wall with Apple's storage room? Since Apple doesn't exactly advertise where they keep stock (but also... it's fairly obvious?)
I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the bathroom is in the back of the store; he didn’t realize going straight through that back wall led into the Apple Store stockroom (“how it wraps around”).
 
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"I would have never suspected we were adjacent to the Apple Store, how it wraps around I mean," Marks told King 5 News. "So, someone really had to think it out and have access to the mall layout."
The first thing I did was to search for the mall's directory -- they always have them online. It's pretty obvious from the map that the coffee shop and the Apple store share a lot of wall.

Maybe it's not so obvious in person, but on the map, it's right there --
 
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