A couple of thieves walked out of a New York Apple store with 19 iPhones, after dressing like the staff.
Audacious heist in Apple store
It is understood that two men worked together to pull off the robbery on June 1st. They were both dressed as Apple staff in the distinctive blue polo shirt with the Apple logo.
They entered the SoHo store, one man walked into the outlet’s repair room, removed the phones from a drawer, then passed the phones to his co-conspirator, who hid the phones under his shirt and walked out with over $16,000 worth of equipment.
Considering all this, it seems at least one of the men either worked at the Apple store, or had someone assisting, as he knew exactly where to go to get the phones.
Fool me once, shame one you, fool me twice…
This is not the first time that the heist has been performed on Apple stores. Earlier this year, a gang targeted a different Apple store, also in New York, TWICE, and walked away with a total of 67 iPhones. In March this year, the store in the Upper West Side was hit by a gang of two men and a woman.
It is not known whether the latest heist was related.
The first time, February 16th, they took eight iPhones with the woman dressed as an Apple employee, then on March 22nd, clearly emboldened from their first success, they took a further 59 iPhones (worth around $44,000) using exactly the same con, only this time the man was dressed in uniform and passed the phones to the lady, while the third kept look out.
Interestingly this store was often used for training staff, so it was not uncommon to see new faces walking around the store. So long as people has the uniform, they were generally free to do as they pleased without hinderance.
Favorite Apple Accessory – The shirt
Forget chargers and headphones, the real Apple accessory required is the shirt which can be bought online for about $15 or very easily replicated.
The Apple uniform is standard across all their stores. In the past it would change regularly to coincide with big product launches, but now it is a fixed t-shirt or polo collar shirt in blue with a small white Apple logo. This means that it is easier to get hands on, as they are never ‘retired’ and once you have one, it will not be replaced anytime soon.
