2 men tried to use 6,000 fake iPhones to scam Apple service providers across DC

WASHINGTON — Two Maryland men will spend years in prison for a multi-million dollar scheme that aimed to defraud Apple out of 6,000 iPhones. 

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Haotian Sun, 34, and Pengfei Xue, 34, were sentenced on Wednesday. Sun will spend 57 months in prison, while Xue was sentenced by a judge to 54 months in prison. 

The two men were convicted in February by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud.

While Sun lived in Baltimore and Xue resided in Germantown, both men are originally from China. Officials say between May 2017 and September 2019, the pair submitted counterfeit iPhones to Apple for repair as a way to get Apple to exchange them for genuine replacements. 

Sun and Xue would receive shipments of fake iPhones from Hong Kong at UPS mailboxes throughout D.C. The pair would then submit the fake iPhones, with spoofed serial numbers, to Apple retail stores and other Apple-authorized service providers. 

During the scheme, Sun and Xue reportedly submitted more than 6,000 fake iPhones to Apple. The conspiracy aimed to cost Apple nearly $4 million, but resulted in an actual loss of more than $2.5 million. 

In addition to the prison sentence, Sun is required to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,072,000 in restitution. Xue will also have to serve three years of supervised release but pay far less than Sun's amount as a judge ordered him to pay $397,800 in restitution.