A pair of Oregon college students from China have been charged in a fraudulent iPhone return scheme that allegedly netted them nearly a million dollars.
The pair of students, Yangyang Zhou and Quon Jiang, are alleged to have sent fake iPhones back to Appleclaiming they did not work. When the tech giant sent a new, legitimate replacement phone, the pair would sell them to a broker -- usually overseas, according to a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon last month. Both students would get a cut of the profit, federal prosecutors allege. All of the sales were done online.
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Zhou was a student at Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon, while Jiang attended Linn Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. Both were attending on legal foreign student visas.
Jiang, who took the lead in the scheme, was charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods and wire fraud, according to the documents, while Zhou faces a charge of making false or misleading claims on an export declaration. Jiang could face as much as 30 years in prison and $2 million in fines, if convicted. Zhou faces a $10,000 fine and a maximum of five years in prison.
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i thought i was the BIGGEST finesse kid doing this with my own phone.... they took it to another LEVEL
