『U.S.』 fraud, gift card scam, robbery, burglary, retail heist, stealing, smuggling, brothel 2024.9.26-11.9

2024.11.9 Man charged in ‘large scale gift card scam’ likely hit several Northeast Wisconsin cities

Man charged in ‘large scale gift card scam’ likely hit several Northeast Wisconsin cities
FOX 11 News | Sat, November 9th 2024

Guangguo Zhu (Photo courtesy: Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office)

OZAUKEE COUNTY (WLUK) — A Chicago man is accused in a “large scale gift card scam” that police believe spanned several states and likely hit several cities in Northeast Wisconsin.

Guangguo Zhu, 52, is charged with three counts of uttering a forgery, three counts of unauthorized use of an entity’s identifying information or documents and one count of financial transaction card – forgery.

According to the criminal complaint, the case against Zhu began Thursday in Grafton, when law enforcement was dispatched to a Walgreens store for a fraud complaint. The store manager said a middle-aged Asian man “came into the store and placed several forged/altered gift cards onto the gift card rack.”

The manager stated due to widespread fraud and scams involving gift cards, Walgreens did a reset of the gift cards issued for sale. The manager showed Officer Brandt the backs of the valid gift cards, which were different than the backs of the cards the defendant put on the rack. The cards put on the rack by the defendant were no longer in circulation or sold by Walgreens.

Guangguo Zhu criminal complaint

When a Walgreens in Cedarburg reported Zhu was at their store, police conducted a traffic stop and Zhu was arrested. Officers searched his car “and recovered the gift cards in the driver’s side door, various identification cards with the defendant’s name on it, and two duffle bags filled with gift cards.”

Surveillance footage from the Grafton Walgreens showed Zhu pull into the parking lot, enter the store, place the gift cards onto one of the racks and then leave the store.

Cedarburg officers found similar, out of circulation, gift cards on the rack at the Cedarburg Walgreens.

Guangguo Zhu, of Chicago, is accused in a “large scale gift card scam” that police believe spanned several states and likely hit several cities in Northeast Wisconsin. (Photo courtesy: Village of Grafton Police Department)

In total, Zhu had 1,807 gift cards in his possession. The cards ranged from values of $10 to $500 and were branded as being from the following outlets:
Visa
Nike
Apple
Razor
Macy’s
Sephora
Nordstrom
Xbox
Dicks
eBay
Amazon
Bath and Body Works
Home Depot

The criminal complaint explains the scam as follows:

“Grafton Police Detective Justin Gehm is aware of a common gift card scam in which nefarious parties are able to obtain gift cards, either via theft or inside sources. The packaging for the gift cards is meticulously cut open and the gift card is removed. The parties then remove the “scratch off” coating to reveal the gift cards identification numbers. Once the numbers are documented, the identification number is covered back up and the gift card is reinserted into the packaging. Finally, the packaging is sealed. Once prepared and ready, the cards or re-stocked onto gift card racks, waiting for customers to purchase the gift cards.”

“When the cards are purchased, they are either loaded with the set amount of funds or the customer can choose how much money, within the range, to load the card with. The scammers are then able to obtain the funds loaded onto the card for their own benefit. The party receiving the gift card will learn their card has no funds on it, when they ultimately try to use the gift card.”

At the time of the complaint, officials said approximately 60 of the recovered gift cards have been opened; officers confirmed the packaging has been tampered with and the “scratch off” coating on the identification numbers has been removed.

In the past 30 days, Zhu’s vehicle was located in Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh and Sheboygan, in addition to Chicagoland and two locations in Indiana (Indianapolis and South Bend).

Authorities say Zhu is a Chinese citizen.

一名芝加哥男子被指控犯有“大规模礼品卡诈骗案”,警方认为该案跨越多个州,并可能袭击了威斯康星州东北部的几个城市。

52 岁的朱光国(Guangguo Zhu)被指控三项伪造罪、三项未经授权使用实体身份信息或文件罪以及一项金融交易卡伪造罪。

根据刑事起诉书,对朱的指控于周四在格拉夫顿开始,当时执法人员被派往一家沃尔格林药店处理一起欺诈投诉。店长说,一名中年亚洲男子“走进商店,把几张伪造/更改的礼品卡放在礼品卡架上。”

当锡达堡的一家沃尔格林药店报告朱光国在店里时,警方进行了交通拦截,并逮捕了朱。警察搜查了他的车,“并在驾驶座门上找到了礼品卡、写有被告姓名的各种身份证件,以及两个装满礼品卡的行李袋。”

格拉夫顿沃尔格林药店的监控录像显示,朱将车停进停车场,进入商店,将礼品卡放在其中一个架子上,然后离开商店。

朱总共持有 1,807 张礼品卡。这些卡的面值从 10 美元到 500 美元不等

刑事起诉书对这一诈骗行为的解释如下:

“格拉夫顿警探贾斯汀·盖姆 (Justin Gehm) 知道一种常见的礼品卡诈骗,其中不法分子可以通过盗窃或内部来源获得礼品卡。礼品卡的包装被小心地切开,礼品卡被取出。然后,当事人撕掉“刮开”涂层以显示礼品卡识别号。记录号码后,将识别号重新覆盖,并将礼品卡重新插入包装中。最后,包装被密封。准备就绪后,卡片重新存放在礼品卡架上,等待客户购买礼品卡。”

“购买礼品卡时,卡内要么已充入一定数额的资金,要么客户可以选择在一定范围内充入多少资金。然后,诈骗者便能将充入卡中的资金用于自己的利益。当收到礼品卡的一方最终尝试使用礼品卡时,他们就会发现卡上没有资金。”

警方接到投诉时表示,大约有 60 张被收回的礼品卡已被打开;警方证实,礼品卡的包装已被篡改,识别码上的“刮开”涂层已被去除。

在过去 30 天里,朱的车辆除了位于芝加哥地区和印第安纳州的两个地点(印第安纳波利斯和南本德)外,还位于绿湾、阿普尔顿、奥什科什和希博伊根。

当局称朱是中国公民。

2024.10.26 Bloomfield Township police recover $3,200 in stolen goods from 4 women during retail heist

Bloomfield Township police recover $3,200 in stolen goods from 4 women during retail heist
Ohio women charged with retail fraud

Dajuandolyn Ramey (top left), Kahshyrah Winters, (lower right), Ja’Mee Hoskins, (bottom left), Gloria Nelson (bottom right).

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Bloomfield Township police arrested four women involved in an Ultra Beauty retail fraud.

The theft occurred on Wednesday (Oct. 23) at 3 p.m. at the Ulta Beauty in the 2161 block of S. Telegraph Road. A witness reported that three women filled Ulta bags with perfume and other merchandise while not paying.

Officials said the women fled to an awaiting vehicle and entered a Chrysler 200 with an Ohio registration plate driven by the fourth woman.

Bloomfield Township police located the vehicle and made a traffic stop on it.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Dajuandolyn Ramey, 19. The three passengers were identified as Kahshyrah Winters, 21, Ja’Mee Hoskins, 26, and Gloria Nelson, 27.

All four women were coming from Toledo, Ohio. Officers observed the Ulta bags and merchandise in the vehicle and subsequently placed all four suspects under arrest.

The Bloomfield Township Police Department impounded the vehicle, obtained a search warrant for it, and recovered merchandise from Bloomfield Township’s Ulta Beauty, TJ Maxx, and Bath & Body Works.

Detectives also recovered merchandise from a Dick’s Sporting Goods outside of the township. Stolen merchandise recovered from the stores totaled over $3,200.

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office authorized the following counts:
Count 1: Retail fraud first-degree against Ramey, Winters, Hoskins, and Nelson
Count 2: Retail fraud third-degree against Ramey and Winters
Count 3: Driving while license suspended against Ramey

On Oct. 25, 2024, the women were arraigned in the 48th District Court.

Ramey received a $35,000 cash or surety bond, and Winters, Nelson, and Hoskins received a $50,000 cash or surety bond.

布卢姆菲尔德镇警方在零售抢劫案中从 4 名妇女手中追回价值 3,200 美元的赃物
俄亥俄州两名女子被指控零售欺诈

密歇根州布卢姆菲尔德镇——布卢姆菲尔德镇警方逮捕了四名涉嫌 Ultra Beauty 零售诈骗案的女性。

盗窃案发生在周三(10 月 23 日)下午 3 点,地点位于 S. Telegraph Road 2161 街区的 Ulta Beauty。一名目击者称,三名女子将香水和其他商品装入 Ulta 袋子,却没有付款。

警官表示,这几名女子逃到一辆等候的车辆上,然后进入了一辆挂俄亥俄州牌照的克莱斯勒 200 车,司机是第四名女子。

布卢姆菲尔德镇警方找到了这辆车并将其拦截。

该车辆的司机被确认为 19 岁的 Dajuandolyn Ramey。三名乘客被确认为 21 岁的 Kahshyrah Winters、26 岁的 Ja’Mee Hoskins 和 27 岁的 Gloria Nelson。

这四名女子均来自俄亥俄州托莱多。警察在车内发现了 Ulta 包和商品,随后逮捕了所有四名嫌疑人。

布卢姆菲尔德镇警察局扣押了该车辆,取得了搜查令,并从布卢姆菲尔德镇的 Ulta Beauty、TJ Maxx 和 Bath & Body Works 收缴了商品。

侦探们还在镇外的一家 Dick’s Sporting Goods 商店收缴了商品。从商店收缴的被盗商品总额超过 3,200 美元。

奥克兰县检察官办公室批准了以下指控:
第一项指控:针对 Ramey、Winters、Hoskins 和 Nelson 的一级零售欺诈
指控 2:Ramey 和 Winters 涉嫌三级零售欺诈
指控 3:Ramey 在驾照被吊销期间驾驶

2024.10.19 Officers recently investigated suspicious activity at a home in the Cypress Village neighborhood. On Wednesday, uncovered a brothel

Irvine Police Department
Officers recently investigated suspicious activity at a home in the Cypress Village neighborhood. On Wednesday, SIU served a warrant there and uncovered a brothel. Two men were arrested for sex trafficking. Three victims were offered victim assistance information and left the locations.
Qiyin Jiaqiyin, 51, of Irvine, and Xiaoming Ding, 36, of Whittier, were at Orange County Jail. Thank you to the witness who reported this suspicious activity to us.

尔湾警察局
警方最近在 Cypress Village 社区的一所住宅内调查了可疑活动。周三,SIU 在那里发出了搜查令,发现了一家妓院。两名男子因性交易被捕。三名受害者获得了受害者援助信息,并离开了这些地点。
来自尔湾的 51 岁的 Qiyin Jiaqiyin(贾齐音) 和来自惠蒂尔的 36 岁的 Xiaoming Ding(丁晓明) 被关押在奥兰治县监狱。感谢向我们报告这一可疑活动的证人。

Two arrested on sex-trafficking charges after advertising brothel on fliers, Irvine police say

Irvine police arrested two men this week on pimping and pandering charges after they advertised a brothel on fliers that were placed on neighbors’ cars, a department spokesperson said.

The fliers included contact information that led officers a home in the city’s Cypress Village neighborhood, Sgt. Karie Davies said.

The fliers, in essence, said, “Call for a good time,” she said.

Qiyin Jiaqiyin, 51, of Irvine and Xiaoming Ding, 36, of Whittier were arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail, Davies said, where they’re each being held on $500,000 bail.

Three victims, women in their 20s and 30s, were offered assistance and left the location after the arrests, Davies said.

尔湾警方称,两人因在传单上宣传妓院涉嫌性交易罪被捕

尔湾警方发言人称,本周,尔湾警方逮捕了两名男子,罪名是拉皮条,他们在邻居的车上张贴传单,宣传妓院。

卡里·戴维斯警官说,传单上提供的联系方式帮助警察找到了位于该市柏树村附近的一所房子。

她说,传单的大意是,“打电话预约美好时光”。

戴维斯说,51 岁的尔湾市居民贾齐音和 36 岁的惠蒂尔市居民丁晓明被捕并被关进奥兰治县监狱,他们的保释金均为 50 万美元。

2024.10.11 A 41-year-old woman from China pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle 29 protected eastern box turtles from Vermont into Canada

Woman admits to felony charge in turtle smuggling case
Wan Yee Ng, charged with trying to smuggle 29 turtles into Canada, entered a guilty plea Friday in federal court in Burlington. She is set to be sentenced in December.

A grey box with multiple yellow and brown turtles.
Photo of box turtles, from the complaint in case U.S. v. Wan Yee Ng. Photo via U.S. Border Patrol

BURLINGTON — A woman from Hong Kong has pleaded guilty in Vermont to a felony charge of trying to smuggle 29 protected turtles from the United States into Canada.

Wan Yee Ng, 41, entered the guilty plea Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington to a single count of attempting to smuggle eastern box turtles, a protected wildlife species, across a lake from Vermont to Canada for the illegal global pet market.

Ng is set to be sentenced Dec. 13.

She has been held in custody since her arrest in June and will remain in custody pending her sentencing.

As part of a plea deal, Ng faces up to 10 years in prison. The actual sentence will be handed down by Judge Christina Reiss after considering the advisory federal sentencing guidelines.

In determining the sentencing guideline that applies in the case, Ng agreed that the fair market value of the 29 turtles totals more than $40,000, based on a $2,000 value for each, according to court filings.

Ng, through a Cantonese interpreter, told Reiss during Friday’s hearing that she understood she was giving up her right to a trial by entering into the plea deal.

According to the case against Ng as laid out in documents in support of the plea agreement, she arrived in Canaan, Vermont and checked into a rental home on Lake Wallace, a body of water that is bisected by the U.S.-Canada border.

Ng had caught the attention of law enforcement, court records stated, because she had rented the same property through Airbnb on Jackson Lodge Road in Canaan — a site of human smuggling “and other illegal activities” — several times.

On the morning of June 26, the documents stated, Ng began to prepare an inflatable kayak near the water’s edge and was seen by law enforcement carrying a duffel bag from the rental property to the kayak.

At the same time, the filing stated, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported to U.S. authorities that another person, described only in the court documents as a “co-conspirator,” was paddling toward the middle of the lake from the Canadian side.

“Law enforcement intercepted Wan Yee Ng as she prepared to paddle across Lake Wallace with the duffel bag,” the plea agreement stated.

Inside her seized duffel bag, the filing stated, authorities found 29 eastern box turtles “individually wrapped in socks for transport.”

Ng, according to the plea agreement, did not obtain the required permits to export the turtles to Canada.

“These animals are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora,” an international agreement to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become threatened or extinct, court records stated.

“The eastern box turtle is a subspecies of the common box turtle and is native to forested regions of the eastern United States with some isolated populations in the Midwest,” according to federal prosecutors. “Turtles with colorful markings are especially prized in the domestic and foreign pet trade market, particularly in China and Hong Kong.”

Ng’s cell phone was also seized by authorities as part of the investigation, the plea deal stated.

The phone, according to the filing, contained communications showing that Ng was trying to smuggle the turtles into Canada so they could eventually be sold for profit in Hong Kong.

Investigators have since determined that the seized turtles had been obtained in New Jersey, according to court documents.

Woman pleads guilty to trying to smuggle 29 turtles across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak
By The Associated Press

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A woman from China pleaded guilty on Friday to attempting to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak.

Wan Yee Ng, 41, was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan as she was about to get into an inflatable kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace, according to a Border Patrol agent’s affidavit filed in federal court.

Agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that two other people, including a man who was believed to be her husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward the United States, according to court documents.

The agents searched her heavy duffle bag and found 29 live eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks, the affidavit states. Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese black market for $1,000 each, the affidavit stated.

Her cellphone was seized, and a search by law enforcement found communications showing that she tried to smuggle the turtles into Canada so that they could eventually be sold for a profit in Hong Kong, according to the plea agreement. Ng, from Hong Kong, was living in Canada.

She pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of unlawfully attempting to export and send 29 eastern box turtles out of the United States, contrary to law. VTDigger first reported on the plea deal.

She is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

試圖將29隻受保護龜從美國偷運至加拿大 中國女子認罪
10月11日,一名來自中國的婦女承認企圖用皮畫艇將29隻受保護物種東部箱龜從美國佛蒙特州的一個湖偷運到加拿大。

根據美國邊境巡邏隊探員提交給聯邦法院的附誓書面證詞,41歲的Wan Yee Ng於6月28日上午在迦南(Canaan)的一家Airbnb中被捕,當時她正準備帶着一隻旅行袋在當地的華萊士湖上坐上一個充氣皮畫艇。

根據法庭文件,加拿大皇家騎警通知美國邊境巡邏人員說,另外兩個人,包括一名據信是她丈夫的男子,已經開始畫著充氣皮艇從湖邊的加拿大一側駛向美國。附誓書面證詞稱,特工搜查了Wan Yee Ng沉重的帆布包,發現了29隻用襪子單獨包裹的活的東部箱龜。

據悉,東部箱龜在中國黑市上的售價為每隻1000美元。根據認罪協議,她的手機被扣押,執法人員在搜查中發現了一些通信信息,顯示她試圖將這些受保護龜走私到加拿大,以便最終在香港出售獲利。

Wan Yee Ng來自香港,現居住在加拿大。周五,她承認了一項非法企圖將29隻東部箱龜出口並送出美國的罪名。她將於12月被判刑,面臨最高10年的監禁和最高25萬美元的罰款。

2024.10.2 Two men were sentenced yesterday for participating in a scheme to defraud Apple Inc. (Apple) out of millions of dollars worth of iPhones

U.S. DOJ Office of Public Affairs
Press Release
Two Foreign Nationals Sentenced for Multimillion-Dollar Scheme to Defraud Apple Inc. Out of 6,000 iPhones
Thursday, October 3, 2024

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

Two men were sentenced yesterday for participating in a scheme to defraud Apple Inc. (Apple) out of millions of dollars worth of iPhones. Haotian Sun, 34, a Chinese citizen residing in Baltimore, was sentenced to 57 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,072,200 in restitution to Apple and a forfeiture money judgment of $53,610. Pengfei Xue, 34, a Chinese citizen residing in Germantown, Maryland, was sentenced to 54 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $397,800 in restitution to Apple and a forfeiture money judgment of $19,890.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from May 2017 to September 2019, Sun and Xue, along with their co-conspirators, submitted counterfeit iPhones to Apple for repair to induce Apple to replace the counterfeit phones with genuine iPhones. As part of the scheme, Sun and Xue would receive shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong at UPS mailboxes throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. They then submitted the fake iPhones, with spoofed serial numbers or IMEI numbers, to Apple retail stores, including an Apple Store in Washington, and other authorized Apple service providers. Members of the conspiracy submitted more than 6,000 inauthentic phones to Apple during the conspiracy, causing a loss of more than $2.5 million.

On Feb. 20, Sun and Xue were both convicted after a five-day jury trial of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Sun was also convicted of one count of mail fraud and Xue was convicted of six counts of mail fraud.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia; Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Washington Division; and Special Agent in Charge Derek W. Gordon of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington Field Office made the announcement.

USPIS and HSI investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Ryan Dickey of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman for the District of Columbia prosecuted the case.

Press Release
Multimillion Dollar Scheme to Defraud Apple Inc. out of 6,000 iPhones Nets Prison Terms for Two Maryland Residents
Wednesday, October 2, 2024

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia
USADC.Media@usdoj.gov

Defendants Caused an Actual Loss of More Than $2.5 Million

WASHINGTON – Haotian Sun, 34, and Pengfei Xue, 34, both Chinese nationals, were sentenced today for participating in a sophisticated scheme to defraud Apple Inc. out of millions of dollars’ worth of iPhones. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly sentenced Sun to 57 months in prison, and sentenced Xue to 54 months in prison.

The sentences were announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Washington Division, and Special Agent in Charge Derek W. Gordon of Homeland Security Investigations Washington Field Office.

On February 20, 2024, after three-and-a-half days of testimony, Sun, of Baltimore, and Xue, of Germantown, MD, were found guilty by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud. In addition to the prison terms, Judge Kelly today ordered Sun to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,072,000 in restitution. Judge Kelly ordered Xue to serve three years of supervised release and pay $397,800 in restitution.

According to the government’s evidence, between May 2017 and September 2019, Sun, Xue, and other conspirators defrauded Apple Inc. by submitting counterfeit iPhones to Apple Inc. for repair to get Apple to exchange them with genuine replacement iPhones. Sun and Xue received shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong at UPS mailboxes throughout the D.C. metropolitan area. They then submitted the fake iPhones, with spoofed serial numbers and/or IMEI numbers, to Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers, including the Apple Store in Georgetown. Trial evidence and evidence developed after trial showed that members of the conspiracy submitted more than 6,000 inauthentic phones to Apple during the conspiracy, causing an intended loss of approximately $3.8 million and an actual loss of more than $2.5 million.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division and Homeland Security Investigations’ Washington Field Office.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi J. Kleinman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and Trial Attorney Ryan Dickey of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Valuable assistance was provided by Paralegal Specialist Sona Chaturvedi. Essential work also was provided by Paralegal Specialists Michon Tart, Mariela Andrade, and Liliana Villamizar.

用逾6千部冒牌手机诈骗苹果公司 两中国男子在美被判刑
美国司法部周四表示,两名试图诈骗苹果公司价值数百万美元iPhone的中国男子已被判刑。

34岁的孙皓天(Haotian Sun、音译)被判入狱57个月,并被勒令向苹果公司赔偿1072200美元,没收53610美元。34岁的薛鹏飞(Pengfei Xue、音译)被判入狱54个月,并被勒令向苹果公司赔偿397800美元,没收19890美元。

孙皓天居住在巴尔的摩,薛鹏飞居住在马里兰州日耳曼敦。美国司法部在一份声明中说:“孙皓天和薛鹏飞以及他们的同谋向苹果公司提交假冒iPhone手机进行维修,以诱使苹果公司用真iPhone手机替换假冒手机”。

据悉,孙皓天和薛鹏飞从香港购买了假冒的iPhone手机,并将这些带有伪造序列号或国际移动设备识别码(IMEI)的手机送到苹果专卖店和苹果授权服务提供商处。

根据法庭文件,该骗局的共谋者“在共谋期间向苹果公司提交了6000多部假冒手机,造成约380万美元的预期损失和250多万美元的实际损失”。

经过五天的审判,孙皓天和薛鹏飞被判犯有共谋邮政欺诈罪。此外,孙皓天被判一项邮政欺诈罪,薛鹏飞被判六项邮政欺诈罪。

Scammers in the slammer for years after ripping off Apple with fake iPhone returns
Duo must also cough up $1.5M for pulling off multi-million-dollar exchange swindle

Two fraudsters will spend nearly five years behind bars each and pay a combined $1.5 million for bilking Apple out of millions of dollars worth of iPhones.

Haotian Sun, 34, a Chinese citizen living in Baltimore, Maryland, was sentenced to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,072,200 in restitution to Apple plus a forfeiture money judgment of $53,610.

The other scammer, Pengfei Xue, 34, a Chinese citizen living in Germantown, Maryland, got 54 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and has been ordered to pay $397,800 to Apple along with a $19,890 money judgment.

According to the court documents, between June 2017 and December 2019, the two men engaged in a scheme to return fake iPhones to Apple for repair and trick the iBiz into replacing them with real ones.

The duo received shipments of inauthentic iPhones from Hong Kong at mailboxes throughout the Washington DC area. They then “returned” the fake phones, with spoofed serial numbers and/or IMEI numbers, to Apple retail stores, authorized service providers, or via the mail.

“They returned phones under the false pretense that the suspected counterfeit phones were under warranty and should be replaced due to malfunction or other reason,” according to the court documents [PDF]. “Apple, wrongly believing that the person submitting the replacement request was entitled to a replacement, responded by providing a new iPhone either in person at an Apple retail store or by shipping a new iPhone to addresses provided by the conspirators.”

In total, the two men along with two other co-conspirators, submitted more than 6,000 phony phones to Apple, costing the iThings giant more than $2.5 million in losses.

Apple did not immediately respond to The Register’s request for comment.

Sun and Xue were both convicted in February after a five-day jury trial of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Sun was also convicted of one count of mail fraud and Xue was convicted of six counts of mail fraud.

And while their stretch in the big house will give the two plenty of time to rethink their life choices, they got off relatively easy for their multi-million-dollar scheme. The maximum term for the duo’s crimes is 20 years each.

p.s. court documents

2024.9.26 Melinda Katz announced that three men have been indicted on 41 charges including kidnapping, robbery and burglary

(OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY QUEENS COUNTY)Press Release
THREE MEN INDICTED FOR DOUGLASTON HOME INVASION BURGLARY AND KIDNAPPING
September 26, 2024

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that three men – Jone Smith and brothers Ryan and Brandon Dash – have been indicted by a Queens grand jury on 41 charges including kidnapping, robbery and burglary. The trio allegedly strong-armed their way into a Douglaston residence last month and held a family – including children and the elderly – hostage with weapons and threats. One of the women escaped from the house with her 1-year-old child to summon police for help.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, these defendants broke into a home and held a family hostage with a loaded gun, a hammer and a crowbar. A young mother courageously fled the home with her infant child to get help while her family members were bound and assaulted. This was an incredibly brazen attack that left both this family and their neighborhood in fear. I thank the members of the NYPD for quickly apprehending these defendants before anyone else could be victimized.”

Brandon Dash, 39, and Ryan Dash, 34, of 218th Street in Cambria Heights, and Jone Smith, also known as Conrad Harrigan, 47, of Cambria Heights were arraigned before Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro today on a 41-count indictment jointly charging them with seven counts of kidnapping in the second degree, six counts of burglary in the first degree, three counts of robbery in the first degree, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, six counts of burglary in the second degree, five counts of robbery in the second degree, five counts of assault in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, grand larceny in the third degree, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

If convicted of the charges, the defendants face a maximum of 25 years in prison.

The defendants were ordered to return to court on October. 21.

According to the indictment:
On August 17, 2024, between 2:15 and 3:18 a.m., three men entered the home on 247th Street in Douglaston and awakened two adults at gunpoint. The homeowners were sleeping in the room with their 1-year-old child.
The defendants, who were masked, allegedly physically restrained the occupants of the home and demanded to know the location of any money in the house. One of the defendants allegedly brandished a gun, while two others a hammer and a crowbar.
A mother and an infant child escaped the home, and a 911 call was placed to police.
The defendants allegedly took in excess of $20,000 cash from the homeowners.
Responding officers determined that three defendants, as well as four adult hostages and two children, remained inside the house. Three defendants were then seen climbing out of a window.
Police arrested the three defendants after an extensive manhunt in the vicinity of the house. Two of the hostages were taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
The stolen money and a loaded firearm were recovered after the arrests.

The investigation was conducted by Police Officer John Adames and other members of the 111th Precinct.

Assistant District Attorney Hugh McCann of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Whitney, Bureau Chief and Roni C. Piplani, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.

三名男子因道格拉斯顿入室盗窃和绑架被起诉

皇后区检察官梅琳达·卡茨宣布,三名男子——琼斯·史密斯、瑞安和布兰登·达什兄弟——已被皇后区大陪审团起诉,罪名包括绑架、抢劫和入室盗窃等 41 项罪名。据称,这三人上个月强行闯入道格拉斯顿的一处住宅,用武器和威胁手段劫持了一户人家,包括儿童和老人。其中一名妇女带着她一岁的孩子逃出房屋,报警求助。

地方检察官卡茨说:“据称,这些被告闯入一所房屋,用一把装满子弹的枪、一把锤子和一根撬棍劫持了一家人。一位年轻的母亲勇敢地带着她的婴儿逃离房屋寻求帮助,而她的家人则被捆绑和殴打。这是一次极其无耻的袭击,让这个家庭和他们的邻居都陷入恐惧。我感谢纽约警察局的成员迅速逮捕了这些被告,以免其他人受害。”

住在坎布里亚高地218街的 39 岁的布兰登·达什 (Brandon Dash) 和 34 岁的瑞安·达什 (Ryan Dash ),以及住在坎布里亚高地的 47 岁的琼斯·史密斯 (Jone Smith,又名康拉德·哈里根),今天在最高法院法官斯蒂芬妮·扎罗面前接受传讯,他们被指控犯有 41 项罪名,共同指控他们犯有七项二级绑架罪、六项一级入室盗窃罪、三项一级抢劫罪、两项二级非法持有武器罪、六项二级入室盗窃罪、五项二级抢劫罪、五项二级袭击罪、三级非法持有武器罪、三级重大盗窃罪、三项危害儿童福利罪和两项四级非法持有武器罪。

如果罪名成立,被告将面临最高25年监禁。

被告被命令于10月21日重返法庭。

根据起诉书:
·2024 年 8 月 17 日凌晨 2:15 至 3:18 之间,三名男子闯入道格拉斯顿247街的住宅,持枪叫醒两名成年人。当时房主和他们 1 岁的孩子正在房间里睡觉。
·据称,这些蒙面被告用暴力制服了屋内住户,并要求告知屋内钱财存放的位置。据称,其中一名被告挥舞着枪支,另外两名被告则挥舞着锤子和撬棍。
·一位母亲带着一名婴儿逃离了家并向警方拨打了 911。
·据称,被告从房主手中收受了超过 20,000 美元的现金。
·出警人员确认,屋内仍有三名被告、四名成年人质和两名儿童。随后,有人看到三名被告从窗户爬出。
·警方在房屋附近进行全面搜捕后逮捕了三名被告。两名人质被送往当地一家医院接受轻伤治疗。
·逮捕嫌疑人后,被盗金钱和一把上了膛的枪支被追回。

此次调查由警官约翰·亚当斯和第 111分局的其他成员负责执行。


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