Selling a phone in China is probably the best idea ever. Buying them is a even better idea. Do you think so? Think again, because… you are absolutely right!
Now, as many of you know, reselling stolen iPhones or any smartphone is not legal in most part of the world. If you remember, we have shared a few stories of people who were caught for stealing phones:
Even a thief asking money to return your phone back is illegal.
But in China, especially in Beijing, there are people who are selling stolen smartphones smartly, and they never get caught. All this is done legally too.
So How Do People Sell Stolen iPhones?
There are some really smart folks in China who are selling iPhones for money. Here is how they do it: once they have a stolen iPhone, they will hand the device over to a professional phone repairman who will create hardware problems. This leaves the phone handicapped and pretty much useless.
These smart folks will visit the Apple Retail Store, asking for help to fix their broken iPhone. If you didn’t know, the folks at Apple will never ask for your phone’s guarantee card or any certificate. All they want is the serial number of the iPhone, which they will get it when you hand them the damaged phone.
After a thorough examination the folks at Apple will give a brand new iPhone to the customer. This customer then sells this device online, or goes back to the black/grey market in China to sell it. As it is a fresh unit, they will not get caught.
Pretty smart, don’t you think?
Apple has no way to find out whether the phone is a genuine one or stolen. There are thousands of iPhone 5s exchanged for a new one every day, partly because of hardware issues. It’s difficult to track them all back to the original owner. All that Apple cares for is to provide a good customer service, which a lot of people are taking advantage of.
Due to the increase in mobile theft, police officers are now selling stolen iPhones in the grey market, so that they can arrest the buyers. But cops haven’t found a way yet to catch these people.
The new iPhones are sold at $300 in the market.
Via CE.CN (Chinese website)
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