800 fake Apple devices discovered in Ireland. Irish police are said to have claimed the items, believed to be worth $173,904 (more than 1.4 billion yen), including AirPods and iPhone accessories, were found in County Mayo. This information was revealed by Irish radio station Newstalk. Earlier this week, raids were carried out on businesses in a number of Irish towns including Castlebar, Westport, Ballinrobe and Claremorris.
Garda National Immigration Services, local police crime units and other agencies took part in the multi-agency operation. The article also said there have been no arrests at this time and the investigation is ongoing.
Counterfeiting remains a major problem, costing the EU economy an estimated 85 billion euros ($92.4 billion) annually, according to reports. This latest seizure comes after a similar operation in Northern Ireland in May 2024 resulted in the seizure of $750,000 worth of counterfeit goods.
The latest “fake” iPhone scam
In July, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Bengaluru raided two stores that were selling inferior cables of various brands and fake Apple products. Counterfeit AirPods Pro, USB-C to Lightning cables and cables with fictitious labels such as AV Guard and Poly Cab worth Rs 1.4 million were found. Local police then took over the investigation.
Earlier this year, five Chinese people were accused of defrauding Apple of more than $12 million by exchanging fake iPhones for real ones at an Apple Store in California. The complex scam, which operated from 2014 to 2024, used fake iPhones with stolen identification numbers to trick Apple representatives into supplying under-warranty replacements. Charges against the defendants include identity theft and wire fraud.
The two were previously convicted of defrauding Apple of more than $3 million by sending fake iPhones for repairs and getting real ones instead. To deceive Apple, fake iPhones were imported from Hong Kong and had forged serial numbers.
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