An Apple gift card scam run by Chinese nationals caused card buyers to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. The operation involved thieves heisting gift cards from retail outlets, tampering with them, then replacing them in the stores.
The New Hampshire operation started with the theft of Apple gift cards in retail outlets. The cards were carefully opened so the PIN and other vital statistics could be recorded, but otherwise looked unused. Then the cards were repackaged and placed back in the stores. When the card was activated with a balance, the organization was notified, took the money from the card, and then used it to buy Apple products, such as iPhones and MacBooks.
The balances on the cards were then used to buy various Apple products, including some 4,000 iPhones valued at $8-9 million recovered in a single raid. Those devices were subsequently sold to grey market importers in China, Dubai and South America.
New Hampshire Public Radio reports the ring was also involved in a murder in Derry, New Hampshire:
Last May, Gui Lin, a 41-year-old from China, pulled his car into the parking lot of an industrial complex in Derry, New Hampshire and began unloading boxes from his trunk.
A surveillance camera captured what happens next: A U-Haul van pulls up in front of Lin’s car. Three men wielding knives and duct tape exit the van. There’s a struggle. Another man comes running from inside the building to try and help Lin, but the assailants slash at him. Lin then stumbles back into the frame of the video. He’s been stabbed in the chest and leg. The U-Haul drives off.
Lin was taken to a hospital, where he died that afternoon. His heart had been punctured.
The full scale of the operation is said to have run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The investigation into the theft ring was jointly conducted by New Hampshire Police and the Department of Homeland Security.
While Apple reportedly assisted investigators, the company has not commented.
