Everyone knows Apple makes a tidy sum selling iPhones, so it’s no surprise that there’s big money in counterfeiting the handsets too.
Unfortunately, producing phoney phones is a risky business, as one Chinese counterfeiting operation recently found out.
Police in Beijing raided a factory that produced 41,000 fake iPhones worth in excess of 120 million yuan – that’s about £12.5 million.
The raid, which took place in May but has only now been revealed, resulted in the arrest of nine people.
Amongst the nine was a married couple – 43-year-old ‘Yu’ and his 40-yearold wife ‘Xie’ – who ran the dodgy scheme under the guise of a gadget maintenance shop.
The spurious storefront, located on the northern outskirts of Beijing, was reportedly set up in January with six assembly lines in tow.
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According to a report by the Guardian, “hundreds” of workers repackaged second-hand smartphone components as iPhones to sell on for a profit.
Police managed to seize 1,400 handsets, as well as “large quantities” of accessories during the raid.
The police were reportedly alerted to the operation following a tip-off from US authorities who seized the illegitimate devices.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.