In the last four years, Apple has been able to significantly reduce the number of fraud attempts with repairing iPhone in the retail stores of China. This told the newspaper the Information citing information from more than a dozen former Apple employees, who requested anonymity.
In 2013, Apple has discovered a rather complex scheme. Scammers buy or even steal the Apple, then extracted valuable components, replaced them on the fake and returned the “broken” iPhone, getting new devices as replacements.
Originally the scheme has begun to work in Shenzhen. The first official Apple Store opened in 2012, and then weekly statistics of hits on repair and replacement jumped from 200 to 2000 over the first six months of operation. This is almost three times more than the number of applications for repair in the flagship Apple store in new York.
At first specialists in the Chinese Apple stores changed to the new iPhone without much issues, if they did not look tampered with. It is the policy of Apple and the rest of the world. But as soon as the scheme starts to run out in billions of dollars of losses, the company took action. Introduced the requirement for confirmation of ownership and developed diagnostic equipment to check the smartphone without any disassembly.