Philip James pleaded guilty to the charges of receiving stolen goods. This man has sold no less than 1000 stolen MacBooks, for a total value of 2.5 million euros. All of these MacBooks, MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros were originally stolen by former Tesla employees from company sites, as well as former employees of major US universities.
Apple has often paid the price for its popularity in more or less elaborate scams. We remember, for example, this scammer who stole 1 million euros from Apple by sending fake iPhones for repair for three years, or these two scammers who stole 1.4 million in gift cards.
The case of the day concerns a stolen MacBook receiver. Indeed, Philip James is accused to have sold no less than 1000 stolen MacBooksfor a total value of 2.5 million euros. He faces up to ten years in prison. According to the statements of the accused, all these MacBooks, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were originally stolen by former employees of Tesla and major American universities such as Stanford and that of Berkeley in California.
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2.5 million euros pocketed by selling stolen MacBooks
According to our colleagues at MarketWatch, Philip James bought the stolen machines from several people between October 2015 and June 2020. Court documents indicate that he paid between $1600 and $2250 for each device. A hundred MacBooks obviously came from several Tesla production sites. A certain Cory Beck, who worked in the automaker’s IT department, admitted the theft of these devices.
In addition, another hundred MacBooks were stolen by an employee of the University of Berkeley. The largest batch (about 800 devices) comes from Stanford University by a couple, Eric and Patricia Castenada. The latter worked for the school of human sciences of the American university, where she was in charge of providing computers. The previously named perpetrators of theft all pleaded guilty in a related case.
Regarding Philip James, the man will be sentenced in July 2022. Because of the charges against him and the financial damage caused, he risks up to ten years in prison. Nevertheless, he agreed to return part of the sum acquired thanks to the resale of these stolen devices, up to 2.3 million euros to Tesla and relevant universities.
Source : AppleInsider
