A woman is robbed after visiting the Apple Store; a fake NFL swindler used apps and FaceTime calls, and an AirTag signal led to the rescue of 20 cats, all in this week's Apple Crime Blotter.
The latest in an occasional AppleInsider series, looking at the world of Apple-related crime.
Two of the Chinese nationals who carried out the nine-year scheme to return counterfeit Apple products imported from China to Apple Stores throughout California have been sentenced to prison.
According to The Orange County Register, Wenhui Huang, described as the group's ringleader, was sentenced to six years and six months in federal prison. Yang Song, described as the second-in-command, received just under five years.
The two were also ordered to pay $16.2 million and 16.9 million, respectively, in restitution.
Both men had pleaded guilty in 2025 and are the last of the six defendants to receive sentences.
A woman who purchased a MacBook and other products from an Apple Store in Houston was robbed soon afterward, after two suspects followed her.
KTRK reports the incident, took place at the Memorial City Mall in late August. The 51-year-old woman was putting her items in her car when a suspect ran up and took a bag.
Surveillance video showed the suspect getting into a GMC Arcadia, and then Flock cameras caught the vehicle at a cell phone repair store. A subsequent traffic stop led to the arrest of two suspects.
Police arrested both suspects and charged them with robbery, and they recovered the stolen items.
Elsewhere in the Houston area, three suspects were arrested for stealing nearly $14,000 in iPads from a Target in Sugar Land, Texas.
According to KTRK, the three suspects, one of whom was a minor, were caught on store surveillance breaking a display case, taking items, and placing them in a garbage bag before leaving.
Police caught the suspects as they entered a car on their way out, and one attempted to flee on foot but was later caught. The group, the report said, is suspected of involvement in other thefts in the area.
In the high-profile case of a man who impersonated a San Francisco 49ers player and real estate investor in order to swindle women, the man and his accomplice often used three-way FaceTime calls to show off bogus financial gains, federal prosecutors allege.
According to the Justice Department, 35-year-old Daejon Labrayae Love would meet women on dating apps and use fictitious investments to defraud them. Meanwhile 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan would pose as his "financial advisor."
Love also, per prosecutors, "used phone applications to create fictitious bank and investment accounts and balances which Love showed victims to legitimize the scheme."
The scheme lasted four years, until authorities arrested the two on August 24. They were charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.
A truck was stolen in Tacoma, Wash., in August, containing unusual cargo: Twenty cats. However, the truck contained an AirTag, which led police to the vehicle and the felines.
KIRO reports police followed the signal and discovered the man and woman still in the car, and they were arrested. The female suspect had been attempting to feed the cats with food and water, but they still appeared emaciated and had been exposed to ringworm, police told KIRO.
"The female [owner of the truck] had mentioned her cats were in the car," Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Josh Mills told the radio station. "The deputies asked her, 'Well, how many cats?' And she said she wasn't actually very sure."
A Cleveland man has been arrested after he allegedly carjacked a woman at a gas station, and an AirTag in the car helped catch him. He's now been charged in federal court with carjacking and using a gun during a violent crime.
Cleveland.com explains the 24-year-old man admitted that he carried out the carjacking of the 67-year-old woman, and wrote a letter of apology that he asked the FBI to deliver to her.
When an idling car was stolen outside a Georgia school in mid-August, the crime was soon solved thanks to AirPods left behind in the car and video from a nearby Tesla.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, a woman had left the car idling outside while bringing her son to school. This gave the thief the opportunity to get in the car and drive away.
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The woman's AirPods, however, allowed police to track the car's location to a local subdivision, where they found the car abandoned. They discovered that the man had been dropping items, including the AirPods and the victim's wallet.
The Tesla video had clearly captured the original theft, leading to the man's arrest.
The man had claimed that he had permission to "borrow" the vehicle, but police didn't appear to buy that explanation.
